From the City of Clemson Website – https://www.clemsoncity.org/Activityfeed/Myarticles/TabId/197/ArtMID/2433/ArticleID/4098/Community-COVID-19-Testing.aspx
Clemson Community,
We are so incredibly fortunate to have an opportunity for COVID-19 testing through Clemson University. Please share these details with others in the Clemson Community.
Location: Nettles Park, 102 Nettles Park Road, Pendleton, SC 29670
Hours: 7 – 11 am, Monday through Friday
Test type: Saliva PCR (not rapid antigen)
Cost: FREE!
For whom: This test site is for members of the Clemson Community. Important-if you are a university employee or a Clemson student it is very important that you use the test site at Memorial Stadium.
Instructions:
1) You must register prior to arrival to receive a QR code. Have this ready on your phone for scanning or print this on paper to present at test site. Your QR code can be used as many times in the future as needed without re-registering. Clemson Community Registration Link
2) Nothing to eat or drink 30 min prior to test.
3) Results will come usually within 24-30 hours occasionally sooner via text and email.
Accurate, timely testing is a powerful tool to help a community turn the tide of COVID-19 locally. The Clemson Community COVID Testing project aims to make this convenient for you and is free. This is an unbelievable opportunity.
Consider testing for these reasons:
1) Test to diagnose illness if you have symptoms of any viral illness – COVID can present in many ways
2) Test due to a possible close contact exposure to COVID-19. CDC supports being released from the 2 week quarantine early on day 7 from exposure if you have a negative test on day 5,6, or later from known exposure. This allows you to return to work and life sooner in most cases. Pickens County School district is strongly encourage to update it’s quarantine for exposure policies.
3) TEST BECAUSE YOU CAN! -this is the most powerful opportunity.
This illness continues to spread in large part because of individuals being very contagious with an asymptomatic illness or spreading it to others while in the “pre-symptomatic” phase before symptoms begin.
Clemson University demonstrated the awesome power of TESTING BECAUSE YOU CAN. Clemson University made national headlines for the number of (diagnosed) cases this fall. They were seeking out symptomatic individuals however they also initiated an aggressive screening program testing every single student and faculty member on campus once a week. Of all the cases identified this fall over 75% were found through screening! This means that Clemson identified individuals while they were in the pre-symptomatic phase of illness or had an asymptomatic illness, The fast detection allowed them to isolate these individuals before they had a chance to spread the illness too far. At the begging of this effort the “Percent Positive” on campus was above 12% and when students left for Thanksgiving it was down to 1.3%. That is an absolutely stunning achievement. As a community we are being offered something similar. While we have been piloting this project the last two weeks of December we found many cases of pre-symptomatic or asymptotic illness. Unfortunately, we also identified many super spreading Christmas events where families gathered for Christmas dinner where someone in attendance was unknowingly contagious. COVID-19 can manifest as a sniffle or something life threatening. As a community we have an unbelievable opportunity to tackle this with screening. We encourage you to get TESTED JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN perhaps weekly or every other week.
Additionally, help us advocate to Pickens County Schools to update their quarantine policies to have an early “test out” option. I am aware of many people who are reluctant to test due to the incredible “cost” of a two week quarantine. Free, accurate, convenient, timely testing offers THE tool to mitigate this illness locally. Clemson University’s efforts on campus have been an example to the nation. Let’s do the same in our community!
Many thanks to the local doctors in Clemson and the scientist and leaders at Clemson University for supporting and making this project possible!
–Important-if you are a university employee or a Clemson student it is very important that you use the test site at Memorial Stadium and not the Community Site–