Following is the College’s plan and rationale for COVID testing. Should public health recommendations or other relevant factors change, the plan may also change.
Kalamazoo College’s plan for COVID PCR testing, informed by federal, state and local public health guidance, including from the Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services Department, is to focus on students who are symptomatic or who have had known exposure to COVID. This approach is part of the College’s overall strategy of emphasizing physical distancing, ubiquitous wearing of masks, and hand hygiene, all of which are proven to minimize the spread of the virus. These preventative measures—distancing, masks, and hygiene—are the primary strategy for the College’s response to the virus.
Testing for symptomatic and exposed students is aligned with public health guidance and is reasonable given the current demands on testing resources. The supply chain for tests and related supplies is currently unreliable, as is the time for test results to become available. Receiving results more than 24-48 hours after the test makes them of little value for immediate response and disease mitigation. Currently, labs cannot guarantee timely results, so we cannot rely on the data from them for quick response by the College.
Differences in Diagnostic Tests
It’s helpful to understand the differences between diagnostic tests for the virus. Antigen Point of Care Testing is a form of rapid testing that tests for proteins from the virus in nose and throat secretions. Antigen Point of Care testing as an asymptomatic screening measure is not widely endorsed by the medical community, and will play a limited role in the testing protocol at K. Rapid tests, which take the least amount of time for processing, can result in a misleading number of “false negatives,” which may lead a person to believe that they do not have the virus when they do. Such a conclusion may encourage risky behavior which may lead to additional spread of the illness.
PCR tests, on the other hand, look for the genetic material of the coronavirus. The test uses a technology called polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which greatly amplifies the viral genetic material if it is present. It is considered to be a highly reliable test when active infection is present. Test samples are typically sent away to a lab, which can take multiple days to process.
In either case, testing provides an indicator of a single point in time. A person may be negative at the time of a test and become infected shortly thereafter. These facts together suggest that we exercise great caution in using tests as a primary tool to mitigate the spread of the virus.
Both PCR and rapid Antigen testing will be available to students, and campus medical clinicians will determine when and which test is warranted. We will prioritize our student health center personnel and community testing supplies for testing symptomatic individuals and close contacts of positive COVID cases, and will supply additional local resources for further testing of students as needed.
The College, along with the county health department, will continue to monitor information related to testing. If data about testing and/or the context (supply chain, laboratory demands, testing recommendations) change, we’ll reconsider our strategy. For now, preventative measures are the most reliable in containing and preventing the spread of the virus. As previously noted, daily self-screening for symptoms will also be required.
Contact Tracing
Contact tracing for students who test positive for COVID-19 will be conducted by the Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services (KCHCS) Department. The Kalamazoo College Student Health Center staff are also trained in contact tracing, and will provide assistance to the county, if needed. Contact tracing entails interviews with the infected person and a review of their recent activities. People at risk for infection based on their exposure to the infected person will then be contacted. Not everyone who has been exposed to an infected person is at risk for the disease. The nature and duration of the exposure are important in determining who will be contacted. For example, passing a positive person in a hallway while masked is of less concern than being in the same room without appropriate distance and a mask for 30 minutes. The College will rely on the expertise and resources of the KCHCS for contact tracing.