Testing sites to close Wed. afternoon for Thanksgiving break

Due to Thanksgiving break, the COVID-19 testing sites at Alumnae Hall and One Davol Square will be closed from noon on Wednesday, Nov. 24 through Friday, Nov. 26, according to a Thursday email to the Brown community written by Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey ’91 MA’06. Alumnae Hall will reopen on Saturday, Nov. 27 at 10 a.m. and Andrews House will reopen on Sunday, Nov. 28 at 10 a.m until Dec. 5. All three sites will be operating again by Monday. 

The testing sites will close since the Broad Institute, the University’s testing partner, is closing for the holiday break. “There’s no sense in doing a test if it’s going to sit for a day or two” before community members receive a result, Carey told The Herald.

The email advised that community members who need a COVID-19 test result for travel purposes schedule a test at least two days prior to departure.

The number of staff at testing sites has decreased in the past few weeks due to the University’s transition to optional and self-administered testing at campus sites announced Oct. 27. When the testing sites reopen after Thanksgiving break, “we will have sufficient staff at all three test sites open that week” to accommodate the increased volume, Carey said. 

Students will be required to test on the first and fifth day after their return to campus, The Herald previously reported. “We anticipate doing probably around 15,000 tests that week at least,” Carey said, a sharp increase from the fewer than 2,000 tests a week that the University testing program processed over the past two weeks.

During Thanksgiving break, Carey added that he encourages the Brown community, particularly people who received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, to get a booster shot.

The University has not yet discussed whether booster shots will be added to the vaccination requirement, “but, from everything I’ve seen from the CDC and elsewhere, a booster is strongly recommended,” Carey said.