WE CAN STILL PASS THIS TEST

With the seasons changing and a vaccine a ways off, the U.S. needs to dramatically improve its infrastructure for rapid Covid testing. It’s got options

- Drake Bennett and Michelle Fay Cortez

As undergraduates returned to the University of Arizona for the fall semester, many of the new precautions were hard to miss. Plexiglass dividers were affixed in front of lecterns and between lab benches. Giant tents were set up so students arriving early for a class could wait outdoors, sheltered from the punishing sun. Roving teams of student “health ambassadors” tooled around in golf carts, handing out masks and politely chiding their peers for standing less than 6 feet apart.

But the first thing students had to do was visit one of the university gyms for a rapid SARS-CoV-2 test. The results took an hour. Negative, and you could move into your residence hall right away. Positive, and you were sent to a special isolation dorm, where you spent the next 10 days taking classes online.