SAN DIEGO: The University of California’s San Diego campus has launched the winter academic term with a unique twist to its coronavirus
safety regimen: newly installed vending machines stocked with do-it-yourself COVID-19 tests for students.
The 11 dispensers at UC San Diego since Jan. 2 – with nine more to be added over the next week or two – are the first of their kind to be introduced on a college or university campus in the United States, according to school officials.
Adapted from conventional vending machines, the systems aim to make it easier and less costly to regularly screen the school’s student body.
All 10,000 students living on campus, accounting for about a quarter of the school’s total enrollment, are required to be tested at least once a week, up from once every two weeks last quarter, university officials said.
The test kits are free and can be obtained from the machines with the swipe of a university ID card. Students then swab their own nostrils and…
