ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine System announced today that it has entered into partnerships to provide coronavirus, COVID-19 testing at all seven of its universities.
The partnership comes as the university system is finalizing its plans for the return of students, staff, and faculty this fall.
Chancellor Dannel Malloy said the system has teamed up with ConvenientMD to collect samples and transport them to Jackson Laboratory, for testing.
There will be different testing requirements for different people as campuses reopen. The tests will be devoted to asymptomatic students, faculty, and staff only.
Malloy says before they could have a serious discussion about how they would reopen this fall, they had to secure testing ability.
"We will have a testing system. It will be designed and it continues to be designed and will evolve as we learn more and more about the virus and how it's behaving elsewhere over the coming months. But this important step is ready to be taken we have executed agreements and we will move forward with that testing system as part of what we do in the future," said Malloy.
A lot of the details of just how it will all take place are still being worked out, the chancellor said.
The University of Maine System and its universities is expected to announce plans and additional practices for the fall on Wednesday.