I have no idea why they refused to do this for so long, but my guess is bad legal advice from our transparency-phobic GCO:
Dear colleagues,
Beginning today, Corona Corps will notify instructors if a student in your class has recently tested positive for COVID-19.
If you receive a notification, it does not mean other students in your class or you are at elevated risk of infection, and no action is required on your part. Students who are identified as close contacts will be notified directly by Corona Corps. Instructors identified as close contacts will be notified by Human Resources. All-class notifications will be sent by Corona Corps only if a class exposure is possible.
For privacy reasons, you will not be provided with the name of the student, and instructors should not forward the notification or send an all-class message about the case.
As a reminder, in the context of wide levels of vaccination (>97%), a mask mandate, and extensive surveillance testing that yields low positivity rates (<2%), our campus and classrooms remain at very low risk for transmission.
Additional information and guidance is available at COVID Containment Plan for Classes, including:
- Instructors should remind students to introduce themselves to their classroom neighbors at the start of each class as this greatly facilitates contact tracing, should it be needed in specific classes.
- Instructors should submit the Case and Contact Form if a student informs them that they have tested positive for COVID-19, have been identified as a close contact, or if a student is symptomatic. This form helps to initiate the Corona Corps’ outreach to specific students.
- Vaccinated, asymptomatic students who have been identified as close contacts can continue to attend class. However, these students should be reminded to self-monitor daily and to be tested 3-5 days after exposure.
- Remind students to conduct daily symptom self-checks and to not come to class if they have symptoms.
- Make students aware of how they can access course content and make up missed assignments.
- Enforce the mask requirement in your classes.
- Remember to stay six feet away from others if you elect to teach without a mask.
If you have any questions about the notification process, contact Jeffrey Measelle, Faculty Liaison for Corona Corps, at [email protected].
Sincerely,Janet Woodruff-BordenExecutive Vice Provost
For those who want to compare our test positivity rates against other schools like harvard you can’t, because they are doing 3x a week testing of the vaccinated students as well, which is what is driving their test positivity down closer to 0.1 percent.
2.0 percent is pretty low, considering they are basically only testing either students due to contact tracing, or people who are unvaccinated.
The trend looks good on campus. No exponential growth, and a decline in cases.
But still, it seems obvious to let instructors know this info….
On the other hand, Lane County’s estimated Rt has been increasing over the past month and is now 0.94. No idea what the SE on that is, or how they estimate it but they have some nice graphics. https://covidestim.org/us/OR/41039
Wonder if asymptomatic UO students are leading to infection chains in the rest of Lane County.
Ahh, if only we had ever actually spun up good contact tracing systems…