Coronavirus Information

Latest updates

My COVID-19 test kits have expired. What do I do?

Many rapid antigen test kits expiration dates have been extended. Please refer to this FDA website to check on expiration date extensions. If your test kits are confirmed as expired, please dispose of them and obtain new test kits.

I am an employee. What do I do if I have tested positive for COVID-19?

Faculty and staff who have symptoms of COVID-19 should stay home from work, contact their supervisor and their primary care provider and get tested for COVID-19.

If the test result is positive, the employee should continue to stay home from work and contact their supervisor regarding taking time off or working remotely. Faculty and staff with a positive test result also should call Occupational Medicine at 814-865-8612, then email Occupational Medicine at psuoccmed@psu.edu with the following information:

• First & Last Name
• Penn State 9-Digit Number
• Date symptoms began
• Date employee tested positive for COVID-19
• Date of the first day work was missed
• Y/N – Are you able to work remotely?

Occupational Medicine will respond back to your email and include your immediate supervisor/manager, and Absence Management on the employee’s status.

The current CDC guidelines for COVID-19 quarantine and isolation vary based on symptoms and an individual’s vaccination status. The guidelines can be found on the CDC website. Additional information is available on the Penn State Human Resources website.

What are the masking requirements for spring 2023?

The University strongly recommends face masks be worn indoors on campuses in counties designated by the CDC to have high COVID-19 Community Levels.

Even on campuses in counties with low or medium COVID-19 Community Levels, the University encourages anyone who wishes to wear mask indoors on these campuses to continue to do so.

Face masks are required in facilities providing health care and in other locations where required by law, including indoors at the College of Medicine, Penn State Health locations, University Health Services and other campus health care centers.

Masks also are required for some in-person human subjects research. Masking is optional for in-person human subjects research that recruits healthy participants; for studies recruiting high-risk participants (as defined by the CDC), masking continues to be required for both participants and study team members at all indoor locations.

Employees at Penn State who work in their own individual offices on mask-optional campuses may request that visitors wear masks while in their private offices, and faculty may request that their students wear masks during classes. The University asks that community members cooperate respectfully with these requests.