Every day Penn is testing thousands of students and employees, but is refusing to test most subcontracted dining hall workers until at least February 5th. It has only tested Falk dining hall workers once. This is UNACCEPTABLE. 

As Penn opens its campus, it is relying on these workers to supply meals to students in a risky environment. Refusing to test these workers immediately is especially dangerous because people are coming from all over the country and world during this initial period. These workers deserve regular and immediate access to testing services.

At the rate that COVID-19 is spreading, workers feel that waiting two weeks to test them shows that the University and Bon Appetit do not have any regard for their safety, or the general wellbeing of the Penn community that would also be affected by any outbreak. Workers cite that one employee has already tested positive for COVID-19, but they found out through social media. Bon Appetit did not even deem it appropriate to communicate this to them until two days later, further putting more lives at risk. 

And while there are testing sites incredibly close to where they work, dining hall workers are required to go to public testing locations that are off-campus. This is incredibly inconvenient and disrespectful, given that Penn employees are able to use these closer campus sites. Subcontracted workers are continuously being disadvantaged because of their position. 

We demand that the University of Pennsylvania immediately start testing ALL employees for COVID-19, including subcontracted dining hall workers, at their testing sites.