COVID Response Team

The university requests that all students, staff and faculty on all campuses to report to the COVID Response Team by calling 330-672-2525 for any of the reasons below:

• Anyone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 or is being tested due to symptoms suggestive of the infection.
• Anyone who had close contact* with an individual confirmed to have COVID-19 by laboratory testing or with a presumptive diagnosis of COVID-19 (presumptive meaning not tested but diagnosed by a medical clinician as likely to have the infection).
• Anyone living on campus in University Housing and having symptoms consistent with COVID-19, including fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, loss of smell or taste, fatigue, muscle or body aches, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.
• Anyone returning from international travel, regardless of country.
• Travel can increase your chance of getting or spreading COVID-19. Anyone traveling should carefully review the continuously updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance regarding travel.  The CDC’s travel website offers detailed information about airline travel, both foreign and domestic, and other travel.
• Anyone returning from travel by cruise ship.
• Additionally, supervisors should report to the COVID Response Team should an:
  • Employee report COVID-19 symptoms.
  • Employee report they are COVID-19 positive.

*CDC defines close contact:  a distance of less than 6 feet and a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period* starting from two days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, two days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.
* Individual exposures added together over a 24-hour period (e.g., three five-minute exposures for a total of 15 minutes).

The information will be kept confidential in accordance and consistent with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) requirements.

The information will be stored in an information system managed by University Health Services and the Division of IT.

if an Employee Tests Positive

When an employee in a department tests positive for COVID-19, that individual must contact the Covid Response Team, who will work to identify their close contacts.

• Anyone who is COVID-19 positive must be isolated for 10 days from the first day of symptoms or 10 days from the date of testing if showing no symptoms, or until that person is released by their  local health department.
• The employee should inform their supervisor of the required isolation and when they are expected to return. 
• If an employee is ill and cannot work, they must use sick leave for their absence during isolation. 

Isolation

As a general rule, if the employee is able to work  effectively from home during isolation, they should be allowed to do so. 

• Employees in this circumstance should discuss their options with their supervisor and all cases should be reviewed on an individual basis.
• If the employee cannot work effectively from home due to the nature of their job, they must use sick leave for this absence

Close Contacts

The Covid Response Team or the local health department will notify close contacts of the COVID-19 positive individual of their exposure. 

• Close contacts who are fully vaccinated and asymptomatic will continue to engage in normal work practices and adherence to the Flashes Safe Eight principles.  
• An unvaccinated individual who was a close contact of someone with COVID-19 will need to be quarantined for 10 days (seven days with negative tests) and released at the end of that period if there are no symptoms. 
• If symptoms develop, contact your healthcare provider.

Quarantine

As a general rule, if the employee is able to work  effectively from home during quarantine, they should be allowed to do so. 

• Employees in this circumstance should discuss their options with their supervisor and all cases should be reviewed on an individual basis. 
• If the employee cannot work effectively from home due to the nature of their job, they are required to use sick leave for this absence due to quarantining.

Please Note

1. Because of our Flashes Safe Eight safety principles, there is no need for a department to transition to work from home operations if a colleague in the area tests positive for COVID-19. 
2. Only close contacts will be notified with quarantine instructions.
3. It may be necessary to issue a health alert to a department, at the discretion of the health department.