Trinity University has partnered with Community Labs to deliver weekly COVID-19 surveillance testing and mass testing for its students, faculty, and staff—Community Labs’ most extensive relationship with a college or university for the testing nonprofit.
“Our commitment to protect the health and safety of all members of the Trinity community will be significantly advanced through our partnership with Community Labs,” says Trinity University President Danny Anderson. “Cost of testing, the accuracy of testing options, and turnaround times can be significant barriers. Community Labs addresses each of these concerns for our campus. Moreover, we are excited to support the important work of our new partner in helping to keep San Antonio safe—and open.”
Trinity University began testing with Community Labs last week and will continue the relationship in the spring. As athletic competition ramps up after a fall delay, testing for student-athletes will be an additional concern that the partnership will help address.
“University campuses are communities to themselves and are exactly the kinds of micro-populations Community Labs was created to assist,” says J. Bruce Bugg Jr., cofounder of Community Labs and trustee and chairman of The Tobin Endowment. “Through assurance testing—identifying asymptomatic ‘silent spreaders’ so they can quarantine—the rest of the campus can safely return to school and work. We’re honored to support the safety of Trinity’s students, faculty, and staff in the heart of San Antonio.”
“When we began testing in early August, our options were very limited,” says Tess Coody-Anders ’93, vice president for Trinity Strategic Communication and Marketing and the executive sponsor of COVID mitigation and management efforts on campus. “Since then, many new tests and labs have emerged. Among these, Community Labs stands out for checking all of the boxes that matter most for asymptomatic testing: the accuracy of their PCR test, the 24-hour turnaround time, a more comfortable administration, and affordability.”
Community Labs identifies asymptomatic silent spreaders of COVID-19 by providing 24-hour test results, scale, accuracy, and a less invasive test by swabbing the front of the nostril. With this assurance testing strategy, schools and businesses can create COVID-19 safety zones and a pathway for schools to reopen, people to return to work, and communities to recover.
Community Labs is a nonprofit organization based in San Antonio. The organization was co-founded by Graham Weston, former CEO and chairman of Rackspace Technology and founder of the 80|20 Foundation; J. Bruce Bugg Jr., chairman and trustee of The Tobin Endowment; and J. Tullos Wells, managing director of The Kronkosky Charitable Foundation. For more information, visit CommunityLabs.org.
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