Barnard’s COVID-19 Testing Program

Barnard has established a robust and independent COVID-19 testing program to further monitor and manage the health of our campus and for those utilizing Columbia’s campus. The main provider of Barnard’s tests is the Safe for School program operated by Clinical Research Sequencing Platform (CRSP) and the Broad Institute. The College has implemented an app called CoVerified (see the FAQ) to manage daily symptom screenings, assist with contact tracing, schedule tests, and provide test result notifications.

1. Entry Test: The initial entry test is the first required element of the College’s comprehensive testing program. 
2. Regular Testing: All members of the community, including faculty, students and staff, participating in the testing program are required to participate in Barnard’s regular testing program, in which asymptomatic individuals (i.e. people who aren’t feeling sick) are tested on a regular basis as a way for the College to monitor the health and well being of the campus.
3. Daily Self-Screening using CoVerified: Faculty, students and staff are required to use the Barnard screening tool in the app CoVerified every day they access the Barnard campus to acknowledge that they are feeling well and that they have not knowingly been in contact with anyone who is symptomatic or has tested positive for COVID-19. It is the only mechanism by which Barnard community members can access Barnard’s campus buildings. 
4. Accessing Columbia's Campus: All those accessing Columbia’s campus (faculty, students and staff) will need to complete the Columbia screening app ReopenCU, which is different from Barnard’s app.
5. Columbia University members accessing Barnard’s campus: Barnard recognizes the ReopenCU app as the screening tool for Columbia University, permitting Columbia University constituents with a green pass to access the Barnard campus and prohibiting those with a red pass from accessing the Barnard campus.

Testing Program Requirements for Faculty and Staff

Detailed testing information can be found in On-Campus Test Information and Scheduling for Faculty and Staff document.

Surveillance testing is officially in effect as of 3/28/22.

Faculty and staff are required to test once every month (every 4 weeks) during the Spring semester.

• Refer to the Barnard Surveillance Testing Chart to determine assigned testing dates and times. Faculty and staff will receive an automated notice via email the week before their expected testing date.

• If an individual is unable to come in at their assigned time, they should schedule an appointment via the CoVerified app. They will also be directed to complete the Testing Outside of Assigned Dates Form; failure to complete this may result in a test being canceled and discarded (QR code to this form will be available at the testing center)

• Faculty/staff can test up to once a week if they choose.

Contact covidtesting@barnard.edu if you have any questions.

Testing Program Requirements for Students

Detailed information about testing for students can be found on the On Campus Testing Information Sheet.

Surveillance testing is officially in effect as of 3/28

During the remainder of the Spring semester, residential students are expected to test once every 2 weeks (within 14 days). Non-residential students are expected to test on a monthly basis (every 4 weeks).

• Refer to the Barnard Surveillance Testing Chart to determine assigned testing dates and times
• Students will receive an automated notice via email the week before their expected testing date.

• If an individual is unable to come in at their assigned time, please make sure to schedule an appointment via the CoVerified app. They will also be directed to complete the Testing Outside of Assigned Dates Form; failure to complete this may result in a test being canceled and discarded (QR code to this form will be available at the testing center)

• Students can test up to once per week if they choose.

Contact covidtesting@barnard.edu if you have any questions.

Members of the Barnard community must completed the following steps to access the CoVerified App, Barnard's daily screening tool:

Faculty & Staff

• Sign the 2021-2022 Barnard Community Pledge.
• Faculty: Faculty members complete Columbia's RASCAL training and provide their completion certificate to Human Resources. Please send a copy of your completed RASCAL certificate to the Office of Human Resources (hr@barnard.edu).
• Staff: Review the safety training: COVID-19 Training: Working Safely at Barnard College and Columbia University

Students

• Sign the 2021-2022 Barnard Community Pledge.
• Complete any required health and safety training

• Barnard provides all on-campus testing for both entry and regular testing at no cost to faculty, staff or students.
• Barnard’s testing protocols are built around polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which have been referred to as the “gold standard” of testing. On-campus tests use an anterior nasal collection, which uses a short, Q-tip-like swab to collect a sample just above the nostrils. Tests will be processed by the Clinical Research Sequencing Platform in partnership with the Broad Institute. The estimated turnaround time is approximately 48 hours from collection. More information can be found on this fact sheet.
• Those participating in the testing program must get tested on a regular schedule basis as a means of monitoring the health of the immediate community. Adjustments to the frequency of our testing will be based on considerations such as the infection rate both at Barnard and in New York City.
• Individuals will be able to view their personal test results on CoVerified as soon as they are posted by the lab.
• Accessing Columbia’s campus: Those students planning to access Columbia’s facilities at any point:
  • Are required to participate in Barnard’s testing program. 
  • Both the entry test and regular tests are for asymptomatic students only; students with symptoms of COVID-19 or who otherwise feel sick should consult Barnard’s Primary Care Health Services (PCHS) for evaluation and possible testing.
• Full participation in the program, including the entry test and regular testing is required; students cannot have a single standalone test or elect to test only during select weeks.
• The results of our community testing as aggregate information are available on the College’s COVID-19 Dashboard, including the number of tests weekly and the percentage of positive test results
• Separate from the daily attestation to enter campus, we are asking all faculty staff and students to update the College if they have experienced symptoms of COVID-19, possibly been exposed to COVID-19, or test positive for COVID-19 via a non-Barnard test at any point.
  • Any community member not feeling well, should notify the College via the CoVerified app and stay home to quarantine or isolate. A Barnard administrator will be in touch to check in and advise re: next steps.
  • If an individual receives a “red screen”, even in error, they must stay away from campus until a Barnard administrator clears them.
  • If they receive a “red screen” in the ReopenCU app, they should also report  symptoms, possible exposure, or positive test to Barnard using CoVerified and wait for a Barnard administrator  to be in touch.
• NYS app: A New York statewide contact tracing app, “COVID Alert NY,” is available. This does not replace Barnard’s (or Columbia’s) existing apps or procedures, but everyone should be aware of this additional app as an added layer in the efforts to trace and contact individuals who may have had exposure to COVID-19. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware have similar apps available that use the same technology framework.

Barnard has a dedicated team of contact tracers to engage in remote outreach that identifies and locates cases and contacts across the Barnard community (i.e. faculty, students, and staff) using a culturally respectful approach that builds trust and facilitates the  sharing of information. The College’s contact tracers have been trained using a course developed by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and they also participate in additional training that reflects Barnard’s commitment to supporting people who identify as belonging to communities who have experienced systemic oppression and bias.

All faculty, students and staff who are participating in Barnard’s testing program are expected to participate in contact tracing efforts undertaken by Barnard and/or New York City. Community members will be expected to comply with recommendations from contact tracers to quarantine and/or get tested.

Contact Tracing and Isolation Updates for Spring 2022

Working closely with Barnard’s Primary Care Health Services and colleagues within the Pandemic Response Team, the Barnard contact tracing team will:

• Contact users that have reported a positive test result from tests that individuals may have arranged for themselves, as well as users who indicate close contact with a case;
• Reach out to Barnard students, faculty, and staff who test positive for COVID-19 to obtain the names of any Barnard community members with whom they’ve been in close contact;
• Provide information about the next steps for isolation;
• Reach out to the Barnard students, faculty, and staff who were identified as a possible close contact of a confirmed positive case, confirm close contact, and inform them that they must quarantine based on their possible exposure; the name of the index case will never be disclosed to contacts;
• Facilitate a connection with the College’s quarantine/isolation team for the management of quarantine/isolation of residential students in Barnard housing;
• Provide information about additional support that non-residential students, faculty, and staff can use as they manage their own quarantine/isolation.

Barnard must notify the NYC Department of Health about positive cases. The College maintains two information dashboards - one on our website and one posted by the NYC DOH. 

Our contact tracers have been trained using a course developed by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (the same course that New York State and New York City use for their training), and they also get additional training that reflects Barnard’s commitment to supporting people who identify as belonging to communities who have experienced systemic oppression and bias (e.g., people of color, LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, justice-involved persons, persons experiencing domestic/intimate partner violence, people with physical and cognitive disabilities, people with mental or behavioral health concerns, etc.).

Please reach out to covid19@barnard.edu if you have any questions.