Campus Life

University Park coronavirus testing site chosen for safety features

Multidisciplinary team spent months improving testing safety in White Building

The main gymnasium in Penn State's White Building has been reconfigured and adapted to create a safe and efficient COVID-19 testing center for returning students. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — During the universal re-testing period at University Park, all students will be required to take a COVID-19 test between Feb. 15 and Feb. 26 at the White Building, a location selected by a team of experts as the ideal facility for students to be tested on campus. 

A team of experts following CDC and Pennsylvania Department of Health guidance— including Environmental Health and Safety, engineering, epidemiology and facility planning and management experts — looked at many factors when choosing the testing site and layered multiple precautionary measures to create an environment for testing that reduces risks as much as reasonably possible.   

Room 126 White Building safety factors include: 

  • GREATER SIZE AND SPACE: The main gym of the White Building is 14,442 square feet with 24-foot ceilings. That gives it a volume of 346,600 cubic feet, a major factor when selecting a testing site. “The more volume you have for the testing space, the more area you have for the virus to potentially be dissipated through the air,” said Greg Andersen, assistant director in the Office of Physical Plant (OPP). “If you were in a small room or a very contained space and someone sneezes there’s not as much air volume to dissipate the virus.”  
  • SOCIAL DISTANCING: Students who come to be tested will use a separate entrance from visitors to the rest of the building. The gym is laid out so that students who line up to get tested can remain six feet apart at all times. Markings on the floor will help students keep their distance. Where students need to interact with test administrators, plexiglass barriers have been installed as an added level of safety. 
  • BETTER AIRFLOW: The gym has a modern heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system that replaces the air several times per hour, which is a high rate for a space the gym’s size. Additionally, there are HEPA filters placed strategically around the testing areas. According to the CDC, “HEPA filters are no less than 99.97% efficient at capturing human-generated viral particles associated with SARS-CoV-2.” 
  • ABILITY TO CLEAN: Most of the gym’s surfaces are hard, which allows them to be effectively cleaned and disinfected. Cleaning protocols designed specifically for this space include hourly disinfection of frequently touched surfaces. In addition, every evening the site will undergo a more extensive cleaning with electrostatic fogging and disinfectants that are registered with the Environmental Protection Agency. This level of cleaning takes hours and is similar to what is done after a confirmed COVID-19 case. 

The facility is equipped with several air purifiers that filter and clean the air in the gymnasium 24-hours daily. Thorough cleaning of the entire gymnasium, including all chairs, walls and tables, is being conducted every day. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

The area where students await results of their COVID-19 test is set up for social distancing and provides each student with alcohol wipes to clean their chair before leaving the facility. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

A row of 16 partitioned areas allow for privacy and separation while students take the self-administered COVID-19 tests at Penn State's White Building gymnasium. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

Easy to follow guidelines are posted at every isolated partition area at Penn State's COVID-19- test facility, located in White Building, making it easy for students to administer their own tests. Staff and volunteers are also readily available to answer any questions. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

An area of the White Building gymnasium has been walled off for isolation. This area is where students report if their COVID-19 test results come back positive. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

The main gymnasium in Penn State's White Building has been transformed into a safe, clean and efficient COVID Testing Facility for returning students. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

Decals on the floor throughout the White Building gymnasium allow for students to safely distance while waiting in line for their COVID-19 test and their test results. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

A large part of the gymnasium at Penn State's White Building is set up for students to safely await their test results. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

Penn State's White Building gymnasium has been modified and organized for safe and easy COVID-19 testing for students returning to the University Park campus for spring semester 2021. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

The facility is equipped with several air purifiers that filter and clean the air in the gymnasium 24-hours daily. Thorough cleaning of the entire gymnasium, including all chairs, walls and tables, is being conducted every day. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

The area where students await results of their COVID-19 test is set up for social distancing and provides each student with alcohol wipes to clean their chair before leaving the facility. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

A row of 16 partitioned areas allow for privacy and separation while students take the self-administered COVID-19 tests at Penn State's White Building gymnasium. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

Easy to follow guidelines are posted at every isolated partition area at Penn State's COVID-19- test facility, located in White Building, making it easy for students to administer their own tests. Staff and volunteers are also readily available to answer any questions. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

An area of the White Building gymnasium has been walled off for isolation. This area is where students report if their COVID-19 test results come back positive. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

The main gymnasium in Penn State's White Building has been transformed into a safe, clean and efficient COVID Testing Facility for returning students. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

Decals on the floor throughout the White Building gymnasium allow for students to safely distance while waiting in line for their COVID-19 test and their test results. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

A large part of the gymnasium at Penn State's White Building is set up for students to safely await their test results. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

Penn State's White Building gymnasium has been modified and organized for safe and easy COVID-19 testing for students returning to the University Park campus for spring semester 2021. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

“The measures we have been taking have a proven track record of effectiveness at our testing center,” said Derek Leonard, facilities project manager for OPP and a member of the COVID-19 Operations Control Center (COCC) team. “There hasn’t been a single report of a transmission occurring at a testing site.” 

The team that designed these protections went back and studied all of the University’s previous testing sites and protocols to create the safest possible site. “This facility really allows us to scale up these well-tested health and safety protocols to meet the demand of testing the entire student population within this two-week period,” said Jim Crandall, director of Environmental Health and Safety. “It maximizes the ventilation and engineering controls that this space provides.” 

The same principals were used to develop campus-specific playbooks to address the health and safety precautions scaled for the volume of testing for each campus.  

 

Last Updated February 15, 2021

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