COVID Protocols Need Improvement
Decreased COVID Testing Availability
Imagine this: October is fast approaching with flu season in tow. Marist College already has a bug spreading around, and you’re getting symptoms. Is it COVID or the bug? You call Health Services, but the earliest they have an appointment to get tested is the next day over the phone and it is unclear when you’re going to get tested. You instead walk to Rite Aid for a free test only to find out you need a car, but you don’t have a car on campus and they tell you to get an Uber.
What do you do?
This is a problem that many Marist students face as the college just recovered from its first campus-wide ‘bug’ of the semester. Since many of the symptoms of COVID mimic the same symptoms of other minor illnesses (Cold, Flu, Strep Throat etc.), many students, faculty and staff find themselves unsure if they have something minor, or COVID. Therefore, COVID Testing on campus should be more widely available to accommodate this surge, right?
Unfortunately this isn’t the case. In my experience and others’ as well, you have to call Health Services and typically get an appointment the next day to determine IF you have COVID symptoms and are worth a test. Then your actual testing date is the day after, but you do not actually receive your non-rapid COVID result until Day 3 (meaning three whole days not knowing if you have COVID and potentially exposing those around you in your classes and dormitories).
Especially when you’re sick and not feeling your best, it is very hard to follow up and jump through these hoops for a test that you have to wait at least three days to get your result back. It can be stressful, not just for you but roommates and friends as well who may be worried they might have gotten COVID as well. An Anonymous Student who went through a similar procedure for their symptoms said, “[Health Services] pushed aside my COVID symptoms and they told me that I had to wait two days just for a virtual appointment.” They also added, “Marist makes it near impossible to get a COVID Test.” Thankfully the Anonymous Student did not have COVID.
Last year students could simply walk into the testing facility and ask for a test. They had tables readily available between certain hours to distribute tests, and though the lines were long, students could still manage to get their test done in under an hour. They could then find out the results the next day, which is about a third of the wait time now in the Fall Semester.
The Anonymous Student said “I would’ve found [I didn’t have COVID] much sooner if Marist had [an] on-campus walk-in testing facility. Many schools do.”