University of Illinois
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Anonymous
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Anyone have a kid attending? Was just listening to NPR about their reopening strategy- out of all the universities I’ve heard about, they seem to have the best plan in place. Fingers crossed that it works out for them- and that similar rapid tests can be deployed elsewhere!
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/8/24/21399564/university-illinois-campus-covid-19-rapid-saliva-testing-champaign-urbana-sheldon-jacobson |
Anonymous
I agree. Looks like they have a really good plan. |
Anonymous
| Purdue has a solid plan |
Anonymous
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UofI tested more kids in one day than Maryland and DC combined.
Illinois is really raising the bar based on the testing system they have implemented that hopefully will start to be followed by other 'communities' such as private schools, public schools, clubs and other organizations. Hopefully with economies of scale the costs will drop even more such that getting tested two or three times a week is the norm. That said there is still community spread going on at the campus. I think 30-50 kids tested positive each day (out of 40,000). We'll see what sort of post-positiive containment they can do. |
Anonymous
| Good thing they are not in NY. Cuomo would have them closed down. |
Anonymous
| I’m an alum and have a bunch of friends with kids there. It is very impressive. My only question is whether this test can be shared with other schools (for a fee) or does the FDA’s permission to use it apply only to UofI. It would certainly help other schools to have a rapid test rather than having to wait days for results. Hi |
Anonymous
Too bad they're in Illinois and behaving recklessly. That's a lot of community spread. |
Anonymous
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It's good, but it's not perfect and it might not be enough.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-covid-19-saliva-tests-university-of-illinois-20200827-asst6cyxjjg2lpdnjhunzwjlbe-story.html They also use their own new saliva based testing system, which is cool. I live in Chicago and have been impressed by our state's handling of this, although it's far from perfect. The state does a LOT of testing per capita and has a regional/target approach to handling outbreaks. All that being said, it would absolutely not surprise me if UofI was asked to shut down if things start to look like they're getting out of hand. Downstate is kind of a mess, and although the Uni might be handling things ok, venture too far outside that bubble and you're going to run into unmasked vectors. |
Anonymous
| COVID can't survive 100 miles of cornfields at 0 degrees fahrenheit. |
Anonymous
| How was UofI allowed to use that test on kids before they got FDA approval? |
Anonymous
| Good for biz, tech & ag. Not so great for LAS. Direct flight to Chambana from National. Good on-campus recruitment. |
Anonymous
My son's best friend is from a Chicago suburb and knows tons of people there. He's heard good things about their strategy. |
Anonymous
| Reminds me a bit of GATTACA, but good for them. |
Anonymous
I’m not entirely sure but I think it has to do with the fact Illinois has its own laboratories and thus had the ability to create and use their own test in their own lab. FDA/NIH types can probably explain it better but I think this was kind of a loophole they used before getting FDA emergency use authorisation. |
Anonymous
| Why have I seen about 5 tik toks today from UIUC students who claim to be positive and quarantined if they’re doing so well. |