UT Arlington will begin randomly selecting students, faculty and staff who go onto campus for mandatory COVID-19 testing, the university announced Wednesday.
Beginning Monday, 20% of the campus population will be selected each week for testing. If a person is selected, they will receive a notification email and will have seven days to get tested.
The random testing requirement coincides with an announcement Tuesday from interim President Teik C. Lim who said the university has decided to return to primarily in-person instruction by no later than Sept. 20.
Lim said in a letter Tuesday that the university is "encouraged" by the low positivity rate on campus — about 1% since testing began Aug. 13.
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Classrooms have been operating at a maximum 50% capacity since August to maintain physical distancing. That temporary measure ended Wednesday, which was also the deadline for anyone planning to return to campus for the fall semester to submit a COVID-19 test result.
The newly announced random testing requirement will continue "until further notice" and will end after COVID-19 rates in the community subside, the university said.
As of Tuesday, there have been 651 confirmed cases among faculty, staff, students and contractors or vendors, since March 2020, according to UTA. Of the total, 69 of those cases were reported to the school in the first seven days of September and 101 were reported in August.
For more information on the new policy, including a list of a list of on-campus testing facilities, visit the UTA website.
