Mcard access to non-residential campus buildings has been deactivated for a second wave of students, due to their failure to comply with mandatory COVID-19 testing requirements set forth by the university earlier this term.
U-M requires all students who live, work or learn on campus, or who access campus buildings and facilities, to complete weekly COVID-19 testing through the Community Sampling and Tracking Program.
Email notifications were sent to 718 undergraduate, graduate and professional students from the Compliance and Accountability Team on April 12 to make them aware of the action.
The identified students have not completed a COVID-19 test in four or more weeks or do not have a prior test on file and have used their Mcard recently on campus.
On March 2, an initial group of 375 undergraduate students was notified they had lost access to non-residential campus buildings for their failure to comply with mandatory COVID-19 testing requirements.
Since then, according to the Compliance and Accountability Team, 136 students requested and were granted approval to have their Mcard reactivated, with most students completing a COVID-19 test to get into compliance. Another 21 students requested an exemption to the testing program, were approved for a partial exemption, and then had their Mcards reactivated.
“Despite our excitement and optimism around expanded eligibility and opportunities for COVID-19 vaccines, at this point of the pandemic, when around others we must continue the practices of social distancing, wearing a mask, routine testing and other proven mitigation strategies to slow the spread of the coronavirus,” said Robert Ernst, associate vice president of student life for health and wellness, and executive director of University Health Service.
Guided by public health and safety experts, university units are planning more in-person events to help students become engaged outside of the classroom and to facilitate celebrating end-of-year milestones. To attend any upcoming in-person event or activity on campus, all students will be required to complete the daily ResponsiBLUE app health questionnaire and weekly COVID-19 testing to meet U-M requirements for accessing campus buildings and facilities.
To have their building access reactivated on their Mcard, students can either get tested through the CSTP — or the University Health Service if they are symptomatic — or submit a request for an exemption if they believe they should not be included in the mandatory testing cohort.
Students with questions about their Mcard access related to testing compliance should email [email protected].
Elliott Brannon
I’ve heard that UM housing also has issued terminations of housing contracts if a student misses a test. This doesn’t seemed aligned with the federal moratorium on evictions issued by the Centers for Disease Control.
Elizabeth Zaenger
What are the reasons a person can get an exemption from testing?
Dylan Baker
It takes about 5 whole minutes to get a test. There is no excuse not to get one, and there are 100s of appointments at places around campus. The only exemption I see is if you’ve been fully vaccinated, period.
Lily Cesario
If you’ve tested positive for COVID in the last 90 days, you’re asked not to continue getting tested.
I tested positive for COVID-19 and this is what my isolation letter said, “Please do not get retested, for at least 90 days – unless you become symptomatic for COVID-19. Additional testing within 90 days only creates confusion within our system, since you will likely test positive again. If a person who has recovered from COVID-19 is retested within 3 months of initial infection, they may continue to have a positive test result, even though they are not spreading COVID-19.”