Universities are planning to reopen by intelligently managing COVID-19 test data. Their approach offers best practices for the whole economy.
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended life for everyone in the world and has us all wondering how to get back to normal. Regular, frequent, testing at scale is recommended as the foundation for a safe social reopening of our society and economy by the Edmond J. Safra Center For Ethics at Harvard University.* While testing and tracking are important tactics for pandemic management, there are wild inconsistencies in the approach. Many organizations wishing to reopen don’t have experience testing, tracking, and reporting test results. While there are multiple different sectors challenged by COVID-19 testing, we’ve recently been supporting colleges and universities, and have insights to share. Although these institutions have unique requirements to get their students back on campus and athletes back on the field, many of the principles and approaches they’re employing are widely applicable across society and the economy.
Knowing who has COVID-19 is important to reduce the spread and protect those who’ve not been infected. Without testing and reporting, health officials are unable to make informed decisions, more people are burdened, and the virus impacts us all that much longer. Access to comprehensive test results allows for real-time decisions about where risk is increasing and what areas more relaxed restrictions are responsible and safe. Having the results available is only half the battle. The results must first be accurate, but subjective test interpretation is more prevalent in some COVID-19 testing methods. Nasal swab PCR, saliva PCR, and serology tests are typically processed and resulted in a lab. Whereas, rapid antibody tests, lateral flow assay, and rapid PCR tests take a few minutes or a couple hours before results are available. The challenge is these results are analyzed at the point of testing and can be misinterpreted. Consistent result management, with result analysis and tracking, also enables valuable insights to be uncovered - with universities back in session, can homecoming activities occur? Can students in the dorm still have a roommate? Should the band and spirit squad travel with the team? How many students can safely be in a lecture hall?
While all of us would like to get back to day to day life, most universities want to get their staff teaching and students learning in a traditional environment without the need for virtual meetings. While many laboratories are equipped to efficiently test patients and report results through their laboratory information systems, most universities do not possess this technology for testing and reporting. Schools and universities must figure out how to test their students and/or student athletes while also adhering to result reporting requirements specified in the CARES Act. As specified by the CARES Act, whether COVID-19 tests are performed in hospital laboratories, drive thru COVID-19 testing sites, or local clinics, they need to be reported to the Department of Health and Human Services(HHS). The reporting requirement states, “All laboratories—including laboratories, testing locations operating as temporary overflow or remote locations for a laboratory, and other facilities or locations performing testing at point of care or with at-home specimen collection related to SARS-CoV-2 —shall report data for all testing completed, for each individual tested, within 24 hours of results being known or determined”.** While the CARES act provides requirements related to reporting COVID-19 test results there is no uniform guidance for how testing is being administered or who indeed reports the results for those tests done outside of a laboratory. Additionally, organizations unfamiliar with widespread testing initiatives, such as universities, may be ill-equipped to decide how they should test, how often, and how to react to those results.
A look at different university websites points to large discrepancies between COVID-19 response efforts. Some universities and colleges are looking to do frequent COVID-19 testing for students and student athletes, while others are not testing at all and simply relying on social distancing efforts and isolation for those with symptoms. The lack of critical oversight has been identified by the UCLA athletes demanding third-party officials oversee health guidelines for COVID-19.*** The logistics of allowing athletes to participate in workouts, practices, and games is something every NCAA program must figure out. NCAA President Mark Emmert said that the breadth of college sports programs across the country makes it “almost inevitable” athletes will get sick from COVID-19 and that large-scale testing and tracing, which is not yet available, is critical to the resumption of on-campus athletics activities.**** So how do we protect our student athletes and get back to some normalcy?
ImageMover is currently working with a university in the Sun Belt conference to provide tools for capturing and reporting COVID-19 test results. A mobile application provides the university with a consistent workflow for capturing the student athlete’s consent to perform testing, while secure storage of test results and sharing workflows support fulfillment of the reporting requirements for inter-conference play and Health and Human Services (HHS) Reporting. ImageMover even allows for the capture and storage of a photo of the results of a rapid test. The photo helps to ensure the results are captured correctly at the point of testing and accurate once reported. A standard approach to tracking and reporting test results can help universities get their students back on campus and their student athletes back in the game.
The approach to testing at universities across North America today is very inconsistent. Testing that’s being done needs to be tracked and recorded in a usable manner. The data needs to be reported to HHS, but also needs to be used in other, specific operational ways; such as sharing with the conference officials, players, or opposing teams. Organizations need the ability to segment and understand results so they can make informed operational decisions. ImageMover can standardize test result capture and reporting, so organizations can speak the same language regardless of what test is used.