It has been almost one year since the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic sent students around the nation home. Shippensburg University is welcoming back students to campus thanks to continued protocols and new weekly testing. 

While the Etter Health Center has had symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 testing available, the Rapid Raider Result weekly testing, or R3 Testing, is now being used for the campus community. The R3 test will collect a 2 ml saliva sample from students and send it to a lab to be analyzed. The new testing protocol is required for students living on campus and any students who wish to engage in specific extracurricular activities on campus according to the Raider Respect webpage. 

The R3 test has a 99.9% specificity rate, an 85% sensitivity rate and results take between three to eight hours after arriving at the lab, the Raider Respect website said. To participate in R3 testing students can schedule their saliva test online at shippensburgportal.pointnclick.com or use the QR code on their website, the Raider Respect website said. 

On the day of an R3 test there are several rules students will need to follow. 

Students cannot drink, eat, chew gum, smoke, vape or brush their teeth one hour before their test, the Raider Respect website said. Students should show up to the Ceddia Union Building’s Airport Lounge at the scheduled time for their test and answer a few questions. 

An anonymous personalized vial will be given to students to collect their saliva sample which they will then return to an R3 staff member before exiting the lounge. According to the Raider Respect website, students will wait a maximum of 24 hours to get their results through the point and click portal or email. For students to access most extracurricular activities they will need a passport which will be accessible on the point and click portal after they have gotten their test results back. 

Shippensburg University set up the R3 testing program “in commitment to providing more options to students and campus experience,” said Kim Garris, the vice president of External Relations and Communications. The testing is also operated and organized in partnership with ShieldT3, according to Garris. 

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