Dear MICA Community,
The first week of on-campus COVID testing has been completed and, through the cooperation of the community, it has been a successful one — with over 370 individual tests being administered. Many thanks to everyone for their continued cooperation and adherence to MICA’s health and safety protocols. Your efforts keep all of us safe.
As students begin to arrive on campus this week and participate in on-campus testing, here are a few reminders and updates regarding our health and safety protocols.
Testing Dates and Times:
MICA’s on-campus testing facility is located inside of BBOX in the Gateway building. The hours of operation are Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. from now through January 28.
Who should be tested?
- Students are required to be tested twice at MICA. Once upon return to campus and a second time a week later.
- Faculty and staff are required to be tested once, either at MICA upon return to campus or provide their own negative PCR test before returning.
Who should not be tested?
- If you have tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 90 days, you are exempt from MICA’s mandatory testing at this time. Should you develop any new symptoms since your positive test/recovery, you should immediately isolate and call the Health Center at (410) 225-4118 for further instructions (students) or your primary care provider (employees).
Here’s a video of what you can expect when testing at MICA:
Registering for Testing:
- Everyone must register into the testing program before arriving at the testing facility.
- Registration happens through the Maryland Genomics MG Sample Scanner mobile phone app.
- Everyone participating in the testing program was sent an email from Maryland Genomics with details on downloading the app and registering for the program. The subject line of the email is Welcome to MG Scanner. The date sent is on or around January 3. The sender is not MICA, but rather som.umaryland.edu
- If you have previously participated in MICA’s on-campus testing in the Fall and have already registered with the app, you will not receive another email and can use the app already installed on your phone.
- If you did not receive the email or have previously registered but deleted the app, you may request another through this process.
- If you do not own a smartphone or are experiencing other challenges, please come to the testing site and we will work with you on alternative registration options.
Here’s a video of how the app registration process works.
KN95 Masks:
As mentioned in the January 4 Campus Memo, MICA will be providing two KN95 masks for all students and employees.
Distribution
Masks will be distributed when you arrive for testing starting Monday, January 10. If you have been tested before this date or are an employee who tested off-campus, you may stop by BBOX at any time during normal operating hours to pick up your masks.
Reuse
KN95 masks are designed to be reused and have no predefined life cycle. Per guidance by the CDC and MICA’s consulting epidemiologists, masks can be re-used until they are extensively soiled or physically deteriorated to the point where they no longer create a tight fit around the nose and mouth.
Cleaning
Because most viruses, including SARS CoV-2, can not live outside of a host for extended periods of time, masks can be effectively decontaminated by simply leaving them somewhere unused and undisturbed for 24 hours. KN95 masks should not be washed.
Finally, all of this information and much more including tutorial and walkthrough videos has been included in the newly published MICA Spring 2022 Reopening Campus Guide. We encourage all students and employees to take a look.
Thank you again for you cooperation and teamwork.
Sincerely,
The Office of Strategic Communications