In a Feb. 6 Intercom post, Samm Swarts, assistant director of Emergency Preparedness and Response at Ithaca College, announced that the free on-campus COVID-19 testing location has moved from Boothroyd Hall to Muller Hall. 

According to the Intercom post, testing will be located on the second floor of Muller Hall, room 201, in what used to be the School of Humanities and Sciences Deans’ suite. Testing hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

In addition to being the previous testing location, Boothroyd Hall also used to contain quarantine housing but, as of November 2022, it no longer houses students who test positive for COVID-19. Before Fall 2022, free on-campus testing and quarantine housing were in Emerson Hall. There is no on-campus quarantine housing and students who test positive for COVID-19 self-isolate in their rooms, Swarts said.

Swarts said in an email to The Ithacan that the on-campus location will offer rapid antigen testing, with results within 15 minutes of the test.

Swarts said the rapid testing at Muller Hall is available to everyone in the campus community, regardless of access to insurance. All testing at Hammond Health Center, including PCR testing, gets billed to students’ health insurance plans.

“We hope that this change of location will be more centralized for students, faculty, and staff to access,” Swarts said in the Intercom post. “We hope that this change of location will be more centralized for students, faculty, and staff to access.”

Swarts said via email that the central location of Muller Hall was one factor that contributed to the decision to move the location.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic we have tried to pick a location that made sense to our public health operations and also was friendly for students to access,” Swarts said via email. “As the college continues to consolidate spaces on campus, Muller Hall became available for us to  use.”

Swarts said via email that there will be clear signage requesting anybody who seeks testing to wear a face covering to protect others. There will also be face coverings available for people seeking testing who do not have one.