Slippery Rock University officials said they'll continue to work toward better coronavirus testing procedures in line with recent state recommendations.

“I expect us to have access to a pretty robust testing protocol when we get back in the winter,” said SRU President William Behre. “I think we're gong to be in a good spot there.”

The SRU administration has already been working on updated plans for testing in the spring, even before state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine issued new recommendations Tuesday regarding testing in the state's colleges and universities.

Levine is recommending the institutions establish routine testing protocols and adequate isolation and quarantine procedures.

Testing was the focal point of the recommendations, as it calls for universities, like SRU, to test all students returning to campus at the beginning of the new term, and then establish routine screening testing throughout the semester.

“We must remain united in stopping COVID-19,” said Levine in a recent news release.

David Wilmes, chief student affairs officer, said the university is still finalizing some details, including the partnership with a lab to provide tests and results.

For now, Wilmes said there will likely not be universal testing at the beginning of the semester, but the university will continue to provide testing to any symptomatic students.

To comply with the state's recommendations, SRU will try to test about 10 percent of its on-campus population at routine intervals.

“The goal of the testing is to identify hot spots before they become a problem,” Wilmes said.

He said about 760 students live on-campus, a markedly reduced number from past years. He said he expects that number to remain about the same, between 750 and 800 students.

Wilmes said the university is also concerned about off-campus students, of which about 2,500 live in or around Slippery Rock.

“We're trying to interpret the guidance, whether we are including off-campus students as well as on-campus students regarding screening testing,” he said.

Behre said with spring athletics also moving forward, the university is looking at using the spring semester as a trial run for the new testing procedures. He said the university has already committed to allow more students to live on-campus next year, and the new testing protocols can provide further support for that undertaking.

SRU saw significant spread of the virus in its community early in the fall semester, but that spread has slowed.

From Nov. 13 to Thursday, the university added six cases in students and three in faculty and staff to its total. Early in the pandemic, a week's average might have included more than 20 new cases.

Since Aug. 20, the university has had 234 students and 25 faculty or staff test positive for COVID-19.

With fewer cases, the university's average number of new confirmed cases per day has fallen to about 2.8, which accounts for students, faculty and staff.

“The fall semester, I think it went well,” Behre said. “We've kept our cases to a real moderate level. Everyone would like their cases load lower, but we never had an explosion.”

Behre said the university has also learned a few things that will impact its approach in the spring. He said experience gathered in areas of testing, quarantine and mitigation tactics allowed them to make improvements to its plan.

As an example, he said early in the fall, every building had its own temperature station, but that became cumbersome and time-consuming.

“We built some centralized locations where folks could go for temperature checks,” he said.

But there were also flaws, which Behre attributed to being overly cautious. He said the university canceled fall break to limit the number of students planning trips where they might bring COVID-19 back, but the move added to already high stress levels.

Behre said the university is looking at some type of spring break, but not in the traditional sense, where students can go away for an entire week.

“We'll probably make some adjustments before we get to next semester to work in some stress free time for students, faculty and staff,” Behre said. “We won't reinstate traditional spring break, but we'll find some rest time.”

Behre commended the students on making it to finals week, which began Saturday and runs through Thanksgiving, after which students will likely return to their hometowns for a much longer than usual winter break.

He also commended the community for being part of the university's effort to mitigate the virus on-campus.

“It's been exhausting. We got through it, and like everyone else, I can't wait until we're on the other side of this pandemic,” Behre said. “I'm proud of this community. People have really stepped up.”