Weekly COVID-19 Testing for Faculty & Staff Begins Jan. 25
UPDATED INFORMATION:
Weekly testing for faculty and staff will begin the week of January 25. Please schedule your first appointment within that week at any of the available testing locations and add that appointment as recurring on your calendar.
When you book your appointment you will chose a day, time and location. Please add this as a recurring appointment to your outlook calendar through May 7 (testing end date is subject to change) and then complete your COVID-19 test on the same day and time and at the same location each week. You will not need to schedule an appointment each week.
Dear Baylor Faculty & Staff,
As President Livingstone shared last week, all faculty and staff who are working on campus for the Spring 2021 semester will be required to complete weekly COVID-19 testing through our on-campus testing provider, My Labs Direct (MLD), beginning the week of January 25. We all yearn for more normalcy, and our team of health experts believes weekly testing, along with continued preventive health measures, will be the key to the potential for more in-person events and activities as well as keeping our community healthy.
Our commitment to you is to make testing as easy and convenient as possible, with self-administered tests, multiple testing sites on campus and additional testing locations for students, faculty and staff who are located off site, such as Clifton Robinson Tower or downtown Waco.
- We recommend that faculty and staff schedule a recurring, weekly appointment for your COVID-19 test and add that to your calendar for the semester.
- Faculty and staff working on the main Waco campus can schedule an appointment to test at any of the three MLD testing tents available at East Village, Fountain Mall or Memorial.
- Faculty and staff working across I-35 at Robinson Tower or downtown at 811 Washington Ave. will have testing available at those locations on certain days of the week and should schedule their appointment for testing during the scheduled availability at those locations.
- Tests will be self-administered in an effort to better your comfort and convenience. Clinical staff will be on site to provide instructions or assistance.
- With this expedited test process, faculty and staff only need to log into their MLD account – created when you took your return-to-campus test – and present a bar code to be scanned to enter the testing site.
- Faculty and staff who are remaining exclusively remote for the spring semester are exempt from the testing requirement. If you have tested positive for COVID-19 within 90 days of returning to on-campus work, you are exempt from weekly testing until 90 days have passed from the date of your positive test.
- Previous requested exemptions from testing for the Fall semester are no longer valid.
- To request a new exemption from the spring testing requirement, please fill out this form.
Faculty and staff located at the Louise Herrington School of Nursing, Dallas and Austin EMBA programs, and any other Baylor school or program satellite campuses away from the main Waco campus will have alternate testing requirements and instructions as communicated by their schools/programs.
We understand that the additional testing may be an inconvenience and an added burden for you during the spring semester. However, our team is committed to supporting a safe and healthy campus community. Weekly testing will allow us to quickly and effectively manage any COVID-19 outbreaks during the semester while also providing additional opportunities for on-campus events, meetings and activities.
For questions about faculty and staff testing, please contact askHR at 254-710-2000 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT Monday through Friday or send an email to askHR@baylor.edu. If you have questions over the holiday weekend, please contact the Baylor Information Call Center at 888-283-2158 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT Saturday through Monday.
FAQs about Weekly Faculty and Staff COVID-19 Testing
UPDATED: When does weekly testing begin for faculty and staff?
Weekly testing for faculty and staff begins the week of January 25 at various locations across campus. Schedule your testing appointment and add a recurring appointment on your calendar to test each week.
What if I am sick for another reason and unable to come to campus to complete my weekly COVID-19 test?
Please do not attempt to come to campus to complete a test if you are sick or feeling ill for any reason. Please contact your primary care physician if you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. If you miss a scheduled test in a week due to illness, please just continue with your testing appointments within the week of your return to regular work.
What if I am on vacation for a week?
If you are on vacation and away from work, you will not be required to test in that week. Please continue with the next week’s regularly scheduled test.
What if I miss my appointment?
We encourage everyone to pick a time during the week where it may be easier to keep a consistent appointment time for their test. Although, we do understand that things will come up. If you miss your regularly scheduled appointment time, please make up your test during one of the other available testing windows either through the tents on the main campus or during the other available times for the testing available at Robinson Tower or 811 Washington Avenue.
Will I still be required to test each week if I test positive for COVID-19 after the semester starts?
No, if you test positive for COVID-19 either through Baylor-provided testing or through your local healthcare provider, you will not be required to continue weekly testing for at least 90 days after your positive test was taken. You can fill out the exception request form at any time during the semester as circumstances change.
What if I have been vaccinated for COVID-19? Do I still need to complete weekly testing?
Until our health experts know more about the virus and any potential immunity after vaccination, we ask that weekly testing continue for all faculty and staff working on campus even if they have been vaccinated.
