University of California is offering coronavirus testing kits... in vending machines!
People wearing masks queue up at a vending machine, placed by UC San Diego on campus for students and teachers to self-administer COVID-19 tests, during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in San Diego, California, U.S., January 5, 2021.
The San Diego campus of the University of California is attempting to reopen with precautions in place to fight COVID-19. Part of these measures include vending machines stocked with do-it-yourself coronavirus tests.
Currently, the campus has 11 dispensers, with none more on the way. School officials claim that these dispensers are one of a kind in the United States.
Based on the model of conventional vending machines, the systems intend to make testing more accessible and cheaper for students.
10,000 students live on the campus of UC San Diego. Even then 10,000 reflects a quarter of the college’s total enrollment. All students are required to get tested at least once a week. Earlier, students had to get tested every two weeks. The kits are completely free and can be taken from the machines at the swipe of a university identification card.
The test enables students to swab their own nostrils, after which the sample is collected by one of two campus laboratories for further analysis.
Under usual circumstances, results can be accessed within 12-24 hours, as told by University Chancellor Pradeep Khosla to Reuters.
"They're an amazing innovation - simple, effective and impactful," he said while talking about the machines. The vending machines have dispensed thousands of tests everyday since beginning operations.
Besides this, the campus has set up around 7 testing centres across campus. In addition, the university had put up a 600-bed housing unit for students testing positive.
Over the last 10 months, less than 600 students on campus have contracted COVID-19.
Images by Reuters