Due to high COVID-19 Rates, Minnesota Health Officials Encourage Pre-Thanksgiving Testing

submitted by rjohn@augsburg.edu

This past week, Augsburg’s on-campus transmission rate again moved up to the moderate transmission range, and we continue to receive reports of positive COVID-19 cases and exposures to people with COVID-19.

Augsburg already is largely operating according to Minnesota Department of Health recommendations for moderate transmission levels. We continue to monitor the on-campus case rates to determine whether additional action will be needed. (See the COVID-19 status blog for a link to the MDH transmission level guidance.)

Your best protection, as always, is to avoid close contact by wearing masks and maintaining 6 feet of distance when gathering with others.

In addition, over the next two weeks, Augsburg is offering free, on-campus saliva testing in coordination with the State of Minnesota. State health officials have expanded testing across Minnesota in an effort to help people (particularly 18-to-35 year olds, who often don’t have symptoms and don’t even know they are infectious) to determine whether they have the virus before traveling or visiting family and friends at Thanksgiving.

Additional information and links are available in this week’s COVID-19 Status Blog.