College of Medicine Pandemic Response Friday Round-Up – Week of Sept. 21-25
College of Medicine leaders updated faculty, staff and students on Sept. 25 about the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic:
Faculty, Staff and Students – New Process for Reporting COVID-19 Symptoms for Students
The following process should be followed by students who develop any signs or symptoms of COVID-19 or if they were in contact with COVID positive individual.
The process outlines the steps students should take if they start developing symptoms or were exposed to a laboratory confirmed positive family member, roommate or friend. Or, if you are notified of a COVID exposure through their clinical environment, please follow this process. Students, please contact the Student Health Office immediately to be assessed if you fall in either of these categories, 717-531-5998, as everyone’s health is our top priority.
Penn State Health Alert Emergency Notification System
To ensure you get timely information during an emergency situation, all College of Medicine employees, faculty and students are strongly encouraged to update their preferred contact information in the Penn State Health Alerts emergency notification system. Alerts include severe weather, IT and power outages, missing infant or children alerts and workplace violence.
You are automatically enrolled in Penn State Health Alerts with your work or student email address when you join the College of Medicine. But if you use a personal device for work or school, such as your cell phone or personal email address, you should consider adding your alternative contact information to the Penn State Health Alerts system. If you don’t wish to enter your personal contact information, you can install the Everbridge mobile app. See step-by-step instructions on how to set it up.
COVID-19 Cases on Campus
We will be maintaining the current capacity level of 50%, but we will continue to monitor the number of cases in our county, at the COM and in Penn State Health before making any decisions about moving to the next level (phase 4, 50-80% capacity). We will also factor in the prevalence of asymptomatic COVID-19 infection among COM faculty, staff and students as the University begins to share those data. We appreciate your continued compliance with the policies we have in place.
The table below summarizes the number of COVID-19 cases among our College of Medicine faculty, staff and students for this past week.
College of Medicine Statistics
Week of Sept. 21-25
- Current employees/students represents the number who have shown symptoms this week.
- Total employees/students represents the number who have been quarantined or tested positive for COVID-19 since March 2020 (for employees) or July 2020 (for students)
In Case You Missed It
Some highlights from last week:
- Flu shot information and upcoming flu shot drive through clinics
- Surveillance testing and contact tracing
- Thermal temperature scanners now on campus
- Campus ramp-up phases
Please visit the College’s dedicated coronavirus website for updates and highlights from previous weeks.
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