Tech Moving Forward Frequently Asked Questions

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines these kinds of tests this way:

• Diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2 is intended to identify occurrence at the individual level and is performed when there is a reason to suspect that an individual may be infected, such as having symptoms or suspected recent exposure, or to determine resolution of infection.
• Surveillance testing is generally used to monitor for a community- or population-level occurrence, such as an infectious disease outbreak, or to characterize the occurrence once detected, such as looking at the incidence and prevalence of the occurrence. Surveillance testing is used to gain information at a population level, rather than an individual level.

Updated May 30, 2021

If a person received a test at Stamps or through the CLIA-certified surveillance testing on campus, positive results will automatically be reported to Stamps Health Services.

Students and employees who utilize non-Georgia Tech-sponsored testing will be required to notify Stamps Health Services of their positive result through an online portal. All test results reporting will be conducted in compliance with HIPAA and other privacy regulations.

Optional Covid-19 Radar App 
Georgia Tech is using NOVID, a pandemic radar app that will help students, staff, and faculty get ahead of the spread of the coronavirus. NOVID is the only app that notifies you before you’ve been exposed to the virus so you can take the necessary precautions to avoid getting sick. Use of the app is voluntary, and it is available at no cost to members of the Georgia Tech community. Information about the app is available on the Covid Central portal. 

First, download the NOVID app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Enter the community code “JACKETS” when prompted, or at the top of the Settings page. 

• NOVID anonymously detects nearby users to build a web of people connected to you. If any of them reports an exposure or positive test result, you will receive a notification through the NOVID app. 
• NOVID captures no personally identifiable information from users.  
• The app exchanges information with other phones also running the app. It records a frequently changing code to other devices so they can be alerted if necessary — but without sharing any personally identifiable information.  
• Pairs of code interactions are stored on the NOVID server for a limited period of time. 
• If a student receives a positive Covid-19 test at Stamps Health Services, they will be given a one-time code that they can enter into the app, which will send a notification to other phones the app has recorded as potential exposures. 
• If a student has been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 and is contacted by a contact tracer, they will be given a one-time code that they can enter into the app, which will send a notification to other phones within their network. 
• Community members who have received positive tests elsewhere on campus or off campus are required, as part of public health regulations, to report this to Stamps Health Services. 
• Researchers from the Georgia Tech Research Institute’s Software Assurance Branch evaluated NOVID for privacy protections to make sure it doesn’t record personal information that could identify users — and for cybersecurity issues to make sure it protects the device. 
• More details about the NOVID app are available on the Covid Central portal and at novid.org.

No. Testing is done on a walk-up basis. Before each visit, login to mytest.gatech.edu with your GT account, complete the survey, and save the tracking barcode to your phone. 

At a testing site, you will obtain a test kit containing a sample vial, plastic cup, pipette, alcohol swab, and biosafety bag. You will spit into the cup, remove a saliva sample from the cup using the pipette, place the sample into the vial (which contains a viral inactivation buffer), cap the vial, and place it into the bag.

After cleaning the biosafety bag’s seal with the alcohol swab, you will place the bag into a collection box.

Please be sure to bring your cell phone with you.

There is no cost for students, faculty, and staff participating in surveillance testing.

All individuals who participate in the surveillance testing program will receive a notification that they are either recommended or not recommended for a follow-up diagnostic test. Please add noreply-mytest@gatech.edu to your address book or email contacts list to avoid notifications being incorrectly filtered as spam.

Those individuals who are recommended for a follow-up diagnostic test will receive a notification that the lab intends to use the sample they already provided. In some cases, an individual may be asked to return to a collection site to provide a new sample which will be used for the follow-up diagnostic test.

Results from the diagnostic test will be communicated to the individual by Stamps Health Services.

Note: During times of lower testing volume, you may receive notification of your results from Stamps Health Services instead of the Georgia Tech Covid-19 Testing Lab. In this case, you will receive an email to view your results in the Stamps Patient Portal. Please add appointment@health.gatech.edu to your address book to ensure you receive this notification.

If you test positive for Covid-19 or begin to have symptoms, please follow the steps outlined in the Campus Guidelines: If You Get Sick.

Positive cases should be reported to Stamps Health Services. If a person received a test at Stamps or through the CLIA-certified surveillance testing on campus, that will happen automatically. Students and employees who utilize non-Georgia Tech-sponsored testing will be required to notify Stamps Health Services of the positive result through an online portal.

If a student tests positive, the student should isolate at their permanent home if possible. If the student lives in on-campus housing and cannot return home, Georgia Tech will provide a space for the student to isolate until the student meets criteria for ending isolation. If the student lives in off-campus housing, the student will need to isolate in their off-campus residence. Students in isolation and quarantine will be followed up by medical staff on a regular basis to monitor their welfare and progress. They will also have access to meal delivery.  

If a faculty or staff member tests positive, the person should work with their supervisor to identify co-workers or other members of the Georgia Tech community who were close contacts during the infectious period. The contact notification team will work with an employee’s supervisor to provide notification of exposure to close contacts and to provide information to the Georgia Department of Public Health as a part of DPH’s contact tracing efforts. 

Testing will use a validated, saliva-based PCR (molecular) SARS-Cov-2 virus test protocol and will be conducted in the Georgia Tech Molecular Evolution Core Laboratory.

Dual pooling combines samples from multiple individuals and tests them as a group. Dual pooling dramatically increases the number of community members that can be sampled with a single coronavirus test.

Learn how dual pooling works.