Notes

The following groups are included in the college’s mandatory, twice-weekly coronavirus screening: students approved to be in residence on or near campus and approved on-campus employees. Smith’s asymptomatic screening program is managed by the Broad Institute.

Only figures relating to the on-campus screening of employees and students are in included in these data.

While an initial 124 single-occupancy rooms have been set aside for quarantine and isolation, Smith College has the flexibility to add several additional houses as either isolation or quarantine space as needed.

National and state data from CDC COVID-19 Electronic Laboratory Reporting (CELR), Commercial Laboratories, State Public Health Labs, and In-House Hospital Labs via The US Department of Health and Human Services under an Open Data Commons Attribution License. For details on federal data definitions please refer here.

County data is provided by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and is updated weekly. For more info about COVID response reporting in Massachusetts, please click here.

Data Definitions

14-day average positivity rate - The number of positive COVID-19 tests divided by the total number of tests collected (over the past 14 days).

New cases - The number of positive results returned in the past 7 days.

Positive Result - A screening result that has come back indicating the presence of COVID-19.

Inconclusive Result - A screening result that has come back flagged as unable to be processed.  

Total Tests - The total number of COVID-19 tests collected since the College’s screening program began on August 12, 2020.

Test turnaround time - The average time between when each test is collected and the time that a result is determined for that test (over the past 7 days).

Quarantine - Students are placed into quarantine after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.  Quarantine accommodations include a single bedroom and private bathroom.

Isolation - Students are placed into isolation after testing positive for COVID-19.

Why are we doing asymptomatic screening if the transmission of asymptomatic infections is rare?
The CDC warns that you can still pass along the virus even if you feel well and experience no symptoms. College campuses by nature are close- knit communities in which faculty, staff, and students all have regular interaction. Even though Smith has a limited number of students living on campus, there is still a sizable number of employees and students on campus on any given day. The asymptomatic screening process is in place to slow any potential outbreaks and decrease the rate of infection. Doing so can help lessen pressures on our local health-care institutions and prevent them from being overwhelmed by an outbreak on campus that could spread into our local community.

Why do we have an indoor space vs. an outdoor space for screening? Wouldn’t it be safer to do the screening outdoors, especially when you have to pull down your mask during screening?
The Carroll Room is a safe option for indoor screening. This room is a negative pressure room, which means the air is constantly being filtered outside and fresh air is filtered in. There is no recycled air coming back into this room.

Individuals who enter a testing booth are asked to pull their masks or approved face coverings just below their nose, but to keep the rest of their face covered. The ease of the collection process ensures that an individual’s mask is down for only a few seconds. We also have a regular cleaning protocol for the booths, which are in place to keep the staff safe who are working on site several hours each day.

As nice as an outdoor space would be, we had to find a more permanent option since the screening will span into the winter months. Since we have to have staff observing the swabbing it's not realistic to have them working outside for extended periods of time when the weather gets colder.

What happens if a line forms? How are we doing crowd control at the screening location?
During the first week of screening, the average wait time in line was no more than a few minutes. There are floor markers in place and staff monitoring the line to ensure that physical distancing measures are maintained. When the line does get longer, people are asked to wait outside. As we continue the screening process, we trust that the process will be streamlined even further and will prevent long lines from forming.

I see some people wearing masks or approved face coverings incorrectly—can there be communication sent out about the safety guidelines?
The entire campus community was required to complete a coronavirus campus training by early August. This outlined all of the safety measures in place and rules that community members need to follow in order to come to campus. Nonetheless, it is an ongoing process to ensure that all campus community members understand and adhere to the guidelines for wearing face coverings correctly. At the test site, we will continue to provide educational signage and offer friendly reminders about appropriate mask hygiene. We also appreciate help from the campus community as a whole and encourage everyone to have respectful conversations with peers when we notice ways to improve adherence to our shared safety guidelines.

What if I have trouble logging in to CareEvolve and haven’t received my results?
You will not be able to log in to CareEvolve, the The Broad Institute's lab software for accessing results until after you complete your first coronavirus screening and the registration process. Positive results will only be communicated by Schacht Center staff.

After completing your first screening, you will receive a message from CareEvolve titled "Lab results available from your provider-register now.” Depending on how your email is set up, this message might be filtered into a different view. Please search in your trash, spam, and other email folders.