Health officials to begin 14-day COVID-19 testing blitz near USC, Caslen says

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will begin a 14-day COVID-19 testing campaign in Columbia, a top area official said Wednesday.

The testing will begin Saturday at the University of South Carolina baseball stadium on campus and at Martin Luther King Park in Five Points, according to USC President Robert Caslen, who broke the news during a Wednesday town hall.

Federal officials will have the capacity to test 5,000 people per day, but expects to test roughly 1,500, Caslen said.

At the town hall, Caslen also said USC would be doubling saliva testing capacity on campus from 400 tests per day as of Wednesday to 800 by the end of the week, Caslen said.

“We want to make sure every student is tested before they go home for Thanksgiving break,” Caslen said.

USC has also been testing wastewater for evidence of virus spread and have found smaller virus amounts in wastewater alongside the decreasing case numbers, Debbie Beck, USC’s vice president of health and wellness, said during the town hall.

Caslen’s announcement comes as the number of active cases on USC’s campus remains below 200, according to USC’s coronavirus dashboard. That’s down from two weeks ago, when case numbers exceeded 1,400.

“The one conclusion I have is that it’s a modification in student behavior,” Caslen said.

USC is still trying to resume full capacity for saliva tests, which were disrupted because a key lab staffer became sick, according to a previous article from The State. As a result, saliva testing was down to one-sixth of its original, 1,200 capacity after saliva tests resumed.

This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 7:10 PM.