Random testing begins today
Happy Monday, Deac families! Several COVID-related items to talk about today.
We have a new electronic newsletter that is being sent to undergraduate students each week called Your Corona Chronicle. It is a quick-hit, bite-sized dose of news you can use.
Our weekly random testing program has begun. A random sampling of students were notified yesterday of the need for them to participate in the WFU COVID-19 testing program this week. Those selected to participate will have the opportunity to select a testing time (so signing up early will give more options!). The random sample includes all undergraduate students (whether they are living on campus or not) as well as graduate or professional students on the Reynolda Campus. Those who participate in this program should be asymptomatic; those with symptoms should contact the Student Health Service. Those who aren’t living within 45 miles of Winston-Salem or who are currently in isolation/quarantine will not be a part of the sampling group. Note that students who are taking all online classes, but are in Winston-Salem will still have the possibility of being selected to participate in testing. There is a random testing FAQ as well.
It is important for your students to understand that if they have been chosen for the random testing, they must comply with it. There is no cost to your student, and testing is done on campus on the tennis and basketball courts near Palmer and Piccolo halls (across the street from the law school and the water tower). Your students should know that the swab is taken from the front of the nostril only and has been described as the least invasive of the different types of nasal swabs. Note that neither a prior positive nor a prior negative test exempts a student from participating in our random testing.
As you can see from the dashboard, there are some COVID cases reported on the Reynolda Campus. With new cases comes contact tracing, which means we are finding out which people might have been close contacts of positive cases or of people who are considered to be under investigation for possibly having the virus and asking those people to quarantine. In some cases, students may be required to quarantine after an exposure to an individual whose symptoms meet CDC criteria for presumed COVID-19 based on that individual’s symptoms and epidemiologic link to other cases. Quarantining students prior to the availability of a COVID-19 test result will be recommended if there is a strong suspicion of COVID-19 based on CDC criteria to reduce the transmission of the virus within the community.
It is very important for families to know that if your student has been asked to quarantine or isolate, this determination has been made by medical professionals who are versed in the public health guidance related to COVID-19. Your students must comply with the request to quarantine or isolate. This is not a situation where the student (or their families) can ask for an appeal or change the outcome.
To minimize the risk of possible virus transmission, students cannot be released from quarantine until a determination has been made by our medical professionals that they can be released – even if they never have any symptoms, because we know there can be asymptomatic transmission. Complying with quarantine or isolation is required by the Public Health Addendum of the Student Code of Conduct that all students were required to sign. We had asked every family to have a conversation with their students prior to returning to campus to ensure the students were ready and willing to comply with those requirements; see the message. Remember that our students have sources of wellbeing support while they are in quarantine or isolation by way of individual wellbeing coaching and a support group, in addition to the University Counseling Center, and other support offices.
Due to the scope of the work on our plates (working with students who may have suspected COVID contacts or cases, overall prevention and mitigation efforts, as well as all the normal start-of-the-year medical needs students have), we do not have the ability for the Student Health Service to have a lengthy back-and-forth with families about why their student has been asked to isolate or quarantine. We need you to trust us that our medical professionals determine when quarantine or isolation need to happen, and these decisions and protocols are based on guidelines from the CDC and NC Department of Health and Human Services and our infectious disease consultants for college settings. Thank you for your understanding and patience with this.
Please understand that these decisions are made to try and protect the health of the campus community as a whole, and to increase our chances of having our students on campus – as they and you want them to be – until Thanksgiving. As always, we encourage you to direct questions to the Call Center (336-758-7500, M-F 10 am-3 pm Eastern).
Finally, today’s issue of Letters So Dear went out to our ‘24 students; here is the counterpart for P’24s, the Weekly Message for First Year Families. As a reminder, this is not emailed out to all families. You can bookmark this page and check back each week, or I will always link it here as well.