College of Charleston President Andrew T. Hsu shared the following message on Aug. 26, 2021, regarding the availability of take-home COVID-19 test kits for faculty and staff:

Dear Campus Community:

I hope you are having a good first week of the fall semester. I know we are still very much in a crisis and that tensions and anxiety continue to remain high, especially with the rise in the number of positive cases both in the state and the country. I want to reassure you that the campus leadership team is exploring every possible option to make our campus a safer place for faculty, staff, and students. One of those options in our comprehensive efforts is the availability of rapid COVID-19 tests for employees.

As you may have read in national media, some manufacturers of rapid tests decided to wind down their production in early summer, resulting in a current shortage of rapid test kits. However, that disruption in the supply chain has not deterred our COVID-19 Leadership Team in sourcing rapid test kits. Working with both large suppliers as well as local pharmacies, the COVID-19 Leadership Team has acquired a limited supply of take-home tests (with more to come) for use by faculty and staff.

These tests are similar to those we use on campus and are authorized for at-home use without a prescription.โ€ฏThis kit, which includes two tests per box, is intended for serial testing โ€“ meaning, simply test yourself twice within three days, with at least 36 hours between tests. Results are available after 15 minutes of each test. The tests are also approved for children ages 2 or older when an adult collects the sample.

For these take-home tests, the College of Charleston will not have access to the test results. If you or your family member tests positive, you should contact your personal medical provider and notify the College using the self-reporting tool on the Back on the Bricks website.

The test kits are available starting today in the Office of Human Resources. You will need to show your campus ID card and, at this point, we are limiting the supply to just one kit (2 tests in a kit) per employee. Once our larger order arrives on campus, we will adjust the limit as necessary.

Please note that we are also conducting regular COVID-19 testing on campus. You can find the schedule on the Back on the Bricks website.

We hope this rapid-testingย opportunity โ€“ in addition to our temporary indoor face covering requirement and vaccination incentive plans โ€“ provides a little more peace of mind for you as we return to fall semester operations and activities.

Best,

Andrew

Andrew T.ย Hsu,ย Ph.D.
President
College of Charleston