Screening Program for Testing & Contact Tracing

Updated September 13, 2021

Free testing is available to all faculty, staff, and students regardless of insurance. Family members who live in residential colleges and are members of Yale Health are also eligible. All asymptomatic and symptomatic testing is self-scheduled. For the latest testing requirements, please visit our Health Guidelines page.

Schedule a Test

Students, Faculty, and Staff
Members of the Yale community with a testing requirement, including those with an approved exemption, must be tested through the Yale COVID-19 Screening Program at one of the locations listed on this page. Outside test results will not be accepted as proof of screening.

Yale Health Dependents
You may schedule an appointment for your dependent if you are a Yale employee with Yale Health insurance and the dependent has a MyChart account (or you have a MyChart proxy for your minor child under age 18).

Testing Locations & Hours

Preparing for Your Test

The testing process involves a self-administered swab in the front of the nose (not a deep nasal swab) in a specially designed testing booth. The testing process takes less than five minutes.

  • Watch an instruction video for what to expect.
  • Read step-by-step instructions for collecting a nasal swab sample.
  • Blow your nose before arriving at the test site. This will reduce the likelihood of an invalid test result.
  • Younger children must be accompanied by a parent and possibly an additional adult to assist with obtaining the sample. Test site staff are not allowed to hold children.

About the Program

Purpose

Yale’s COVID-19 Screening Program consists of two components: testing and contact tracing. The main focus of asymptomatic testing is to identify individuals who may be incubating infection, to isolate them promptly from the community, and initiate contact tracing to identify individuals who may have been exposed. While testing benefits the tested individual, our main public health objective is to reduce risk to the wider campus community and to New Haven.

Types of Testing

  • Viral testing (PCR or polymerase chain reaction): PCR is currently the most widely available diagnostic test for COVID-19. It relies on identifying viral genetic material in secretions from the nose, throat or saliva. Yale is currently using anterior nasal self-obtained swabs for asymptomatic and symptomatic screening.
  • Antibody testing: Not recommended for diagnostic testing or for proof of immunity at this time.
  • Rapid or “point-of-care” testing: Yale is not offering rapid testing outside of the patient care setting.

Scheduling Testing

All asymptomatic and symptomatic testing is self-scheduled by the individual through the Yale COVID-19 Screening Program. Based on the individual’s CAS login credentials, they will be directed to an appropriate testing site and schedule.

If scheduling a required test in connection with air travel, make sure to schedule at the earliest time allowable by your airline to ensure results will be available. Results are typically available within 24-36 hours. We recommend you test at least two days before your planned travel date.

An active MyChart account is required for scheduling testing, receiving results, receiving reminders, and canceling tests if needed. MyChart is the patient portal for our electronic health record, EPIC.

  • Activate your MyChart account: If you have not enrolled, contact the CCRL at 203-432-6604 to obtain a registration code.
  • Download the MyChart smartphone app: The MyChart app allows easy access from your mobile device, including check-ins for testing using a bar code. Download it to your smartphone by going to the app store or to Google Play.

Test Results

Test results are generally available 24-36 hours after the sample is obtained. Results are housed in Epic, Yale Health’s electronic health record. Results are released to MyChart, Epic’s patient portal, when finalized by the lab. All of those who are tested through the program must enroll in MyChart to receive results.

Five different results are possible:

  • Negative results: Indicate no evidence of Infection at the time of the test. You may have a very low level of virus in your system so this does not rule out that you may become positive on a subsequent test.
  • Positive results: Indicate that there was evidence of viral infection at the time the sample was taken. What to expect in the event of a positive test:
    • You will isolate at home or in designated isolation housing if an on-campus student.
    • Yale Health staff will call you to discuss next steps in detail.
    • Supervisors or deans will also be notified in order to provide support and to ensure a review of environmental safety precautions in the workplace or college.
    • You will receive a call from the Yale Contact Tracing Team (YCTT). Contact tracing is an important disease control measure to prevent further spread of COVID-19. This process begins by asking individuals who are diagnosed with COVID-19 about people with whom they had contact while they may have been infectious.
    • Your close contacts will be notified by the YCTT. Your name will not be shared with contacts during the tracing process. Learn more about close contacts on the Yale COVID-19 Contact Tracing Program webpage.
    • Yale Health’s Care Management Team will follow and release you from isolation when appropriate.
  • Inconclusive: The test looks for 2 sites on the virus; both must be positive for the test to be considered positive. When only 1 viral site is positive the test is called inconclusive and must be repeated, as it could represent an early positive test. The resulting team will contact you with instructions.
  • Invalid: The lab uses human DNA as a control to make sure the sample is adequate. If there is no human DNA in the sample it is labeled as invalid and not processed. In most cases, this indicates a need to be firmer in how you are swabbing the sides of your nose. Schedule a repeat test.
  • TNP: This result means Test Not Processed. This can happen for a number of reasons but one of the most common reasons is too much mucous in the sample which most often happens when someone doesn’t blow their nose. Schedule a repeat test.

If you receive an invalid or TNP result you should schedule another test.

Contact Tracing

Yale has implemented a contact tracing program to optimize the safety of our campus. Learn more about the Yale COVID-19 Contact Tracing Program.

Monitoring Testing at Yale

We are tracking a number of key Yale, local, and regional data streams to ensure that Yale leadership has the information they need to make critical decisions, and the Yale community has access to local trends. The Yale COVID-19 Data page is updated daily based on data from the asymptomatic testing program as well as symptomatic testing of the Yale Health insured population.

Laboratories

Yale conducted a careful search of possible lab vendors before selecting the Broad Institute.

  1. Broad Institute: The Broad Institute is providing all asymptomatic surveillance testing. Broad is supplying testing for approximately 100 higher education institutions and is prioritizing COVID-19 testing. They perform over 100,000 tests daily in their state-of-the art lab in Cambridge, MA.
    • Test: PCR (polymerase chain reaction) assay
    • Turnaround time: within 24 hours from the time of arrival in their Cambridge lab
    • Method of sampling: observed self-swabbed anterior nasal (front of the nose)
  2. Yale Pathology: Yale Pathology provides testing for symptomatic patients at our 109 Grove Street symptomatic test site.
    • Test: PCR assay
    • TAT: 12-24 hours
    • Method of sampling: Observed anterior nasal self-swabbing