Ohio State University along with CAS, a division of the American Chemical Society, teamed up to open a new drive-thru COVID-19 testing facility capable of administering 1000 tests per day to students at the school.
“We know that testing is an important tool in our battle against COVID-19,” said Dr. Andrew Thomas, interim co-leader and chief clinical officer at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center said in a press release. “We remain committed to supporting the central Ohio community and to meeting the increased demand for COVID-19 testing. At this point, our focus is testing individuals with COVID-19 symptoms and those with significant exposures to people known to have COVID-19. Knowing your COVID status can help prevent you from spreading this virus to family members, friends and others you come in close contact with.”
The tests will be conducted by appointment only, as the number of COVID-19 cases attributed to the Omicron variant surges in the United States.
National Guard troops will help administer the tests.
“[The testing site] will be staffed by the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center clinical team as well as 10 Ohio National Guard members who are among those deployed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to help Ohio health care facilities respond to the winter surge in COVID-19 cases,” according to the press release.
Sunday, Ohio reported more than 37,000 new COVID-19 cases, but zero new deaths from the virus, as the Omicron variant is largely considered to be milder than previous variants.
Outbreaks of the Omicron variant, at least in South Africa where it originated, are also thought to spread quickly, but also subside quickly. That country reported that Omicron has peaked just more than a month after its outbreak began.
According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), COVID-19 as a whole has rarely been serious for college-aged Americans.
As of Monday, only 4,956 Americans aged 18-29 have died from COVID-19, compared to 126,217 deaths from all other causes combined since the pandemic began.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
