Morningside launched a Test Iowa site for free on-campus COVID-19 testing for undergraduate students, faculty, and staff in the college’s Alumni House. 

Sioux City, IA – In a continuing effort to adjust and develop strategies related to COVID-19, Morningside College is pleased to announce the launch of a Test Iowa site on campus that will provide testing exclusively for undergraduate students, faculty, and staff on Morningside College’s campus.

“Testing is an important resource to offer our students. It also provides us with additional data to consider when making decisions for the campus community. Presently, we are relying on self-reporting through Student Health and Siouxland District Health, which does limit our information to some extent. While establishing the Test Iowa site on campus doesn’t resolve all issues surrounding our ability to collect data, it does improve access to testing for our students and gives us one more piece of information to use as we navigate the weeks and months ahead,” said Morningside College President John Reynders.

The testing site is located in the Alumni House, which is currently unoccupied and provides a central location on the campus. It will be open Monday through Friday from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. unless otherwise posted on the Morningside COVID-19 page. Morningside has worked in partnership with on-campus students and other local health care professionals to provide staffing for the testing site.

All active Morningside College undergraduate students, faculty, and staff can be tested at no charge, regardless of whether they are currently symptomatic or have been exposed to COVID-19. Individuals who wish to utilize the service should follow the instructions provided by the college and complete information on the Test Iowa site before arriving for their test.

This effort follows the release of Morningside’s COVID-19 dashboard. The dashboard includes information on active cases and students in isolation or quarantine. It will be updated at least once a week as Morningside receives information from students and Siouxland District Health.

“Morningside simply isn’t going to know about every test and every active case, but we are striving to use every resource at our disposal to monitor COVID-19 on our campus,” said Reynders. “Our goal is to do everything we can to keep students safe and healthy, while also collecting as much information as possible to make safe, healthy, rational decisions that are in the best interest of our students, faculty, and staff.” 

Meanwhile, students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to continue practicing mitigation strategies, including wearing face coverings, washing hands, refraining from gathering in large groups, and practicing good hygiene and self-care.

For more information on Morningside’s COVID-19 response, visit morningside.edu/covid.