Round Four Random Testing Program Results Announced

Of the students who participated in Round Four of Texas A&M University’s Random Testing Program, 1 percent tested positive for COVID-19.

The latest results are for the week ending Oct. 10. The program, which is under the direction of the COVID-19 Investigation Operations Center, tests a cross-section of students in hopes of identifying those who may be infected but are not showing symptoms. The goal of the program is to identify transmission hotspots and contain the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19.

The round four positivity rate* is slightly higher than the round three rate for the week ending Sept. 26, in which .7 percent of 2,762 students who participated tested positive. The free test involves a self-administered mouth swab, not nasal test performed by health care professionals.

Results from the fourth round are below:

9,782 students were invited by email to participate in the Random Testing Program
4,305 (44 percent) responded to the invitation email and visited the pre-screening questionnaire
3,332 (77 percent of respondents) were considered eligible by the pre-screening process
2,848 (85 percent of eligible students) completed the questionnaire
1,650 (50 percent of eligible students) completed the testing program process, i.e. both the questionnaire and the COVID-19 test (laboratory results are available on 1,648 of these students)

Among eligible students with available laboratory results, 17, or 1 percent, tested positive.

Random testing, which will continue through the semester, involves students being contacted by email after they are anonymously selected. The process takes about five minutes, and is performed either at the COVID-19 testing tent near the A.P. Beutel Health Center or at the Rec Center off Corrington Drive.

Though the testing is not mandatory, officials are urging students to participate in order to keep campus open for classes.

Those who already tested positive for the virus still need to respond to the invitation email. The data is used by A&M epidemiologists to learn where the virus is on campus, understand how it’s being spread and locate geographic patterns of the virus.

* This link is no longer active and has been removed.