Thousands of Oregon State University students are moving onto campus in Corvallis this weekend. The move-in process looked a little different this year.
For the roughly 2,500 students moving into the OSU dorms, the first test of the fall term was for the coronavirus. Under the supervision of an OSU facilitator, the student self-administers a nasal swab.
"We're using a rapid antigen test," said Jenny Haubenreiser, OSU's director of Student Health Services. "It can take up to a couple of hours (to get results), depending on how many are coming in at once."
First-year student Chuck Smith of Astoria was waiting his results in the parking lot of the football stadium.
“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be, honestly," he said. "I was ready for a pretty painful experience. But it’s pretty easy.”
Students who test positive are given the choice to isolate on campus or return home. Students who test negative are welcome to unpack, but most of them won’t be heading to the classroom any time soon. The vast majority of OSU courses will be offered online this fall.
It all adds up to a college experience unlike what first-year student Averi Hartford of Redmond anticipated.
“Making friends, I think, is probably going to be a little bit more difficult because we want to make sure that we’re staying safe on campus," she said. "But OSU, so far, has done a pretty good job of giving us resources to be able to meet other people and make the process as normal as possible.”
OSU says the number of students living in dorms this fall will be roughly half of the normal total. In August, the school announced that it was easing its requirement for first-year students to live on campus.