TULSA — OSU Center for Health Sciences (OSU-CHS) is taking COVID-19 testing on the road to help Oklahoma A&M Regents branch campuses and affiliated colleges prepare for summer and fall classes as those locations begin to open across Oklahoma.

“Testing is knowledge,” said Johnny Stephens, Pharm.D., OSU-CHS Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President. “OSU Medicine is dedicated to bringing answers to our university and governing administrators to get a clearer picture of the status of the virus in these communities where students will be heading back to school. First, we want to provide staff and students with the care they need. Secondly, we want to capture the testing data needed to make the best decisions in managing the virus’ impact in the coming months.”

OSU Medicine is providing a simple and easy mouth swab test that will be processed at OSU-CHS. OSU anticipates testing 150 people a day but has the capability to test as many as 500 a day. Results will be generated from the OSU Medicine’s Tulsa laboratories and will not interfere with the progress of tests being processed in other Oklahoma labs.

“Testing data is crucial for future management of COVID-19,” continued Stephens. “Testing tells us where the virus is, how it is moving and if it is accelerating or declining. The more data points we gather from testing the clearer the picture of our current COVID-19 status. We anticipate repeating testing in late summer as well to keep our decision-making nimble and up-to-date.”

The mobile COVID-19 testing teams will begin in late May at Connors State College campuses in Muskogee and Warner. Both of those schools are beginning in-person summer classes. OSU Medicine is currently scheduling additional mobile testing for OSU branch campuses in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Okmulgee. Other OSU affiliated colleges such as Oklahoma Panhandle State University in Guymon, NEO A&M College in Miami, OSU Institute of Technology in Okmulgee, OSU Oklahoma City and Langston University are expected to schedule mobile testing centers in June and July.

About Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences and OSU Medicine

Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences (CHS) is a nationally recognized academic health center focused on teaching, research and patient care. The outbreak of COVID-19 has galvanized the university’s response to this global pandemic. OSU-CHS President Kayse Shrum, D.O., serves on Governor Kevin Stitt’s Cabinet and is leading the medical community’s efforts across the state to combat the disease.

In partnership with OSU’s main campus in Stillwater, OSU-CHS transformed a research laboratory into an FDA-authorized testing facility to process COVID-19 tests, significantly increasing the state’s COVID testing.

OSU-CHS Project ECHO teams, in collaboration with the Governor’s Solution Task Force, rolled out the COVID-19 surge plan to 3,500 health industry workers across the state conducting regular evidence-based, knowledgesharing sessions for 9,000 health workers across Oklahoma.