Surveillance Testing

The University will administer rapid antigen tests on a weekly basis to students who have not attested to being fully vaccinated. Each week the University will randomly select a sample proportion of the student population who have not attested to being fully vaccinated for mandatory testing. Selected students are expected to comply with surveillance testing if selected.

The number of students selected will depend on the number of students who have not attested to being fully vaccinated each week. A random selection of a representative cohort of students will be selected for testing every week.

Selected students will be notified via their Ball State email account. The email will be sent from covidtest@bsu.edu.

The University will conduct surveillance for the academic year or until public health conditions do not warrant the need for surveillance testing.

A student or employee can be selected for testing multiple times in a month, semester, or year.

No. An antibody test is not an appropriate substitute for a viral test. Consistent with CDC guidance, antibody tests should not be used to diagnose a current infection. Antibody tests are serology tests and only tell you if you had a past infection. This is not helpful for surveilling the prevalence of infection in the community.

The University will utilize the QuickVue rapid antigen tests for surveillance testing. The antigen test is a viral test and more appropriate for detecting current infection.

In some cases, the University may also use PCR or nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) for surveillance testing.

The QuickVue test is a nasal swab test.

You will receive your test results via your Ball State email account before 5:00 p.m. on the day your test is administered. The email will be sent from covidtest@bsu.edu.

Your test results will be shared directly with Ball State University to compile results, for state and federal reporting, and clearer insights into COVID-19 trends on our campus.

Students and employees who test positive will be referred to contact tracers. Contact tracing is one of the most significant measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Students and employees are strongly encouraged to answer the call from the contact tracer and cooperate in providing the requested information. If the individual has caller ID, the phone will display the caller as ‘BSU COVID TEAM’ or (765) 285-7662.

Supervisors will not be informed of your test result.

Students who have a class conflict with the designated testing days and times, should email covidtest@bsu.edu to inform the University of the conflict. Please include your name, student ID number and the class conflict. You will be provided with an alternate testing option.

Students  who are , sick, in quarantine, isolation, or away from campus on the day they are supposed to get tested should email covidtest@bsu.edu to notify the University and get tested the following week or the next available time they are back on campus. Tests are administered every Tuesday and Wednesday from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in Worthen Arena.

Students who do not comply with the mandatory testing directive will be subject to progressive discipline through the student conduct process.

You can be removed from the surveillance testing list by submitting an attestation of your fully vaccinated status. Report your vaccine status using the COVID-19 Vaccine Completion Form.

If you would like to be fully vaccinated and not subject to random surveillance testing, you may sign up to get vaccinated at ourshot.in.gov or visit the Ball State vaccination clinic website here.

If you have additional questions about surveillance testing, please email covidtest@bsu.edu or call (765) 285-3734.