Boston University’s COVID-19 testing procedures allow for students to arrive at their appointments earlier or later than their scheduled time as long as it is on the same day, according to multiple students.
While the times listed on students’ Patient Connect appointment pages may be different, there are no restrictions or warnings in place to turn students away if they have arrived at the incorrect time.
Several Daily Free Press reporters tested this and confirmed they were able to go through with their testing at a different time than scheduled. When they attempted it at a different location than scheduled, however, they were rejected.
Davidson Hamer, a member of BU’s Medical Advisory Group and professor of global health, said BU is aware of the loophole around appointment times as a means of providing flexibility to students. He said the University discourages students from taking advantage of it.
Hamer said that while this leeway will realistically cause certain time frames to be busier than others, students should stick to their appointment times when possible.
“If we have everybody starting to do that, then we’re going to end up with just the situation that we were trying to avoid,” Hamer said, “which is at certain times when there’s a big clump or cluster of people, and other times where the staff who are working there have nothing to do.”
Part of BU’s goal with COVID-19 testing, Hamer said, is to have a smooth flow of people coming in for testing throughout the day. If foot traffic at testing centers remains even, completing a test should take no more than a few minutes.
“It’s important to try and stick to one’s scheduled appointment,” Hamer said, “There may be less flexibility as time goes on for people that are coming in way after hours.”
The University has discussed adding further restrictions to appointment times, Hamer said, but has not developed a specific response yet.
Kira Milgrim, a sophomore in the College of Engineering, said her testing experience has been simple and convenient. When she went to her 7 p.m. appointment at 9 a.m. because it conflicted with a meeting, she said the testing staff didn’t notice or didn’t mind.
“They do not want people just to simply ignore the fact that they have a test and say, ‘Oh, I missed it today, I guess I’m not going,’” Milgrim said, “I think they would prefer that you came in late than not at all.”
Milgrim said she believes BU is allowing this to offer students ease of access, as well as opportunities to make up a missed test rather than start “going around without it.” She said she tries to always be punctual to her appointment.
She also said she believes BU is right not to publicly announce this loophole, as promoting it could set the system up for failure.
“I don’t think that’s appropriate for the situation we’re in,” Milgrim said. “We need to somehow have crowd control and we want people to have some sort of order to this kind of thing.”
College of General Studies sophomore Juliette Stokes has also gone at a different time from when her test was scheduled. A few people have told her to “just go whenever,” Stokes said.
Stokes said it likely would have been technologically more difficult to enforce arrival specific times through the QR-code technology that BU currently uses. She added that it makes sense the University would choose not to publicize the flexibility.
“Even though they want us to be tested above everything else, they do want to maintain an idea that everything is scheduled and in place,” Stokes said. “If everyone from Danielsen [Hall] wants to go to Kilachand [Center for Integrated Life Sciences and Engineering] … and we all go at the same two hours of the day, it’s just going to be hell.”
