The coronavirus testing of staff and students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is about to become more efficient.
The school is now a licensed lab. For months, RPI has been conducting several types of COVID-19 testing on campus, but when a test came back, they had to wait until a licensed lab confirmed the result. But recently, that has changed. RPI received its license as part of a partnership with St. Peter’s Health Partners. It will allow for increased testing during the Spring semester. Meanwhile, as Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine has to be stored in extremely cold temperatures prior to being administered, RPI is offering its freezers to local hospitals in order to store the vaccines and the President of RPI Dr. Shirley Jackson tells News 10 ABC that the freezers are used for biological samples and can get cold enough for the vaccine. The vaccine has to be stored at minus 94 degrees.