Important Information on COVID-19 Response

As many of you are aware, there have been room closures in Chemistry and a positive case in an adjacent department.  Yesterday, Executive Dean Van Kooten and Associate Executive Dean McCleod sent out the first of the College’s weekly information updates. Included was the latest recommendation from PSIA on responding to COVID cases.  Here is the guidance that applies to ALL OF US in a nutshell:

1. If a faculty member, staff member, or student believes they may have COVID-19 (either having symptoms or had possible exposure), they should contact the IU Health virtual clinic for screening and guidance: https://iu-cra.eas.iu.edu/healthservices/.   Everyone should pre-enroll to streamline testing should it become necessary. Pre-enroll by simply clicking this link, logging in with your IU credentials, and confirming your pre-populated personal information. You will then receive separate emails containing your username and temporary password for IU Health Virtual visits. The entire process can be done in a couple minutes.
2. IU employees who test positive for COVID-19 by IU Health will be contacted by a representative for the case management team who will initiate contact tracing and offer guidance regarding self-isolation procedures.
3. Confirmed or suspected cases, or cases of possible exposure, especially if testing was done outside of IU Health, should be reported by using Fireform at this link:  https://psia-fireform.eas.iu.edu/online/form/authen/007.  The form routes to the IU PSIA office which will take all necessary steps.  To ensure that all members of the IU community receive the most current and accurate guidance, PSIA will handle all communications following the report, adhering to public health guidelines and observing confidentiality.
4. PLEASE NOTE:  The guidelines specifically exclude individual departments form initiating contact tracing and issuing communication regarding potential positive cases or exposure.  Therefore, I encourage anyone who tests positive or is concerned about being exposed to use the fireform portal, to ensure that PSIA is aware of all cases and handles the necessary contact tracing and communication.   For reference, IU considers close contacts as people who spend MORE than 15 minutes within a 6’ radius of the COVID-positive individual.  It is not IU policy at this time to notify lab mates, coworkers, or instructors that do not meet these criteria.  Anyone determined to be at risk will be contacted by contract tracing personnel.  COVID-status is personal health information and is not to be shared.

A useful resource:  “Keeping IU Healthy: Ask Aaron, Faculty and Staff Edition,” originally broadcast at noon on July 30 (today), is available now on broadcast.iu.edu.  Many questions regarding surveillance testing and isolation procedures were addressed by the panelists.  Of note, graduate students who are currently on campus will not be required to take a test at the start of the semester (be aware that the plans and policies are evolving) but everyone (faculty, staff, students) will be subject to frequent surveillance testing.

In addition, it was announced that Provost Robel would be issuing guidelines for compliance and enforcement of IUB’s COVID prevention policies in the next 2-3 days.