Laura Gumbrell
Nottingham has recently seen a surge in the city’s COVID-19 rate to 440.1 per 100,000, giving it the fifth highest rate in England. In a pledge to keep staff, students and the local community safe, the University of Nottingham introduced an asymptomatic testing centre on campus from Monday 5th October. The testing service commenced after two successful pilot schemes run over the last six months, looking both at scientific innovations in the testing process as well as providing asymptomatic testing for the University’s Vet School.
As of October 2nd, the UoN website recorded 425 positive cases – 106 of these were in university halls, 93 from purpose-built student accommodation and 226 from private accommodation across the city. Eight members of staff were also classes as “active cases.”
A spokesperson for the University said “the University has commenced its own asymptomatic testing programme which identifies cases earlier and more quickly. While this means our case data will be higher than other universities, we can identify cases that otherwise would remain undetected and thereby reduce asymptomatic transmission and the number of future cases.”
The two NHS walk-in testing stations are funded and run by the University
The director of the University’s biodiversity Institute professor Chris Denning has commented: “we know that significant numbers of infected people, especially the young, are asymptomatic yet can potentially spread virus to others. The type of surveillance and enhanced testing that we are about to embark upon will reduce potential spread and help keep our university and the wider community safe.”
The two NHS walk-in testing stations are funded and run by the University and based on University Park Campus and Jubilee Campus. These are semi-permanent swab-test collective facilities, which are managed under Pillar Two of the Governments scheme. Slots are pre-bookable online through the government site and will be open to staff, students and members of the local community.
For more guidance on what to do if you have symptoms or need to book a test please visit the governments advice page here.
Laura Gumbrell
Featured image courtesy of Yuri Samoilov on Flickr. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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