USU’s COVID-19 containment teams are working hard to keep everyone safe for the new semester
Utah State University’s COVID-19 containment teams are fully operational into the spring 2021 semester.
The teams were created to allow USU to do internal contact tracing.
Ellis Bruch, Utah State University’s director of Emergency Management, said, “I felt like we needed to have a program here on campus that would allow us to do our own internal contact tracing. That in turn would help the community and Bear River Health Department as well, so they wouldn’t have to worry about our on-campus or off-campus student housing contact tracing.”
For the purposes of tracing, cases are followed and those who may be infected are notified. After contact tracing is finished, students are referred to the COVID CARE team.
Through the success of contact tracing, there has not been a single case of COVID-19 within any classrooms or labs.
The first step to case containment is for students to fill out the COVID-19 questionnaire if they have tested positive, are experiencing symptoms, have been exposed to someone who has tested positive or if they have been asked to quarantine by health officials.
Once a questionnaire is submitted, a USU investigator is assigned to the case. Those who submitted the questionnaire are typically contacted within 24 hours by the case investigator.
If someone is exposed to COVID-19, the investigator will want to know their level of risk and whether they should be tested for COVID-19. If they have tested positive, they will be asked who they have been in contact with. The case investigator will also want to determine if they should be in quarantine or self-isolation, or whether they should just monitor their health.
According to Case Containment Manager, Cindy Gill, “We specifically focus on the contact tracing that involves Utah State. Even if it’s at another campus like Eastern or Blanding, or a student who attends fully online, we’re specifically focusing on exposure relating to students, faculty and staff.”
Once a student is finished with the contact tracing, they are referred to the COVID CARE team. The team works to fulfil the physical and academic needs of students in quarantine. This ranges anywhere from working with faculty to make sure the student can attend class online, offering emotional support through mental health resources or helping them receive free grocery delivery.
“We will take whatever a student lets us know they need, and we try to problem solve and figure out a way to get it done for them,”COVID CARE Co-Chair David Pruden said.
“We want to make sure that the students continue to have good access to their education. We don’t want COVID to be a hurdle in their path to graduation any more than it has to be,” he added.
The overall goal of USU has been to keep the university open while keeping students and faculty safe.
“What’s truly made our success possible has been the great people that work here. It’s an entire team effort that involves everybody from the president down to those that clean our door handles for us,” Bruch said.
kellie.christensen@aggiemail.usu.edu