Citing yet another cluster of COVID-19 cases, Penn State is advising all Beaver Hill apartment residents to get tested for the virus this week.

Students living at the complex are encouraged by the university to seek walk-up testing at Pegula Ice Arena on Wednesday, March 24, or Thursday, March 25.

The site is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Those who are experiencing symptoms should skip walk-up testing and schedule an appointment with University Health Services.

Penn State’s walk-up testing uses a rapid test process, followed by a secondary PCR test if initial results come back positive.

Additionally, Penn State said it will provide “support” to students who need to isolate on or off campus. It’ll also implement its contact tracing process to find potentially affected individuals.

In a release, Penn State said it contacts building or complex residents to encourage testing when that specific population’s positivity rate cracks 2%. The university said it’s working with Beaver Hill management to reach residents but did not specify exactly how many tested positive for COVID-19.

So far, residents from seven on-campus residence halls — East’s Hastings, Stone, Earle, Martin, Geary, and Packer halls and Pollocks’ Beaver Hall — were also asked to seek COVID-19 testing due to similar case clusters.

From March 12 and 19, Penn State reported 254 new COVID-19 cases among University Park students and employees — easily its largest single-week spike since mid-November.

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