By: Chelsea Zhao
Dominican University introduces SHIELDIllinois to handle COVID-19 testing as Campus Clear use dwindles.
Elizabeth Ritzman, director of the wellness center, said if the university is not able to get in touch with someone who was positive with COVID, the student’s Star Card will be deactivated.
After the Wellness Center has determined if a student tested positive for COVID, an elicitation date is formed during which the student is considered infectious. The Wellness Center then investigates the locations the student has been at, such as classrooms, and the people they came in contact with.
The daily reporting on Campus Clear is crucial for the university to maintain its examination of campus’s overall health.
“Anybody who’s taking classes, even if they are not coming on campus, their information is part of an overall picture of how COVID is impacting our community,” Ritzman said. “And without that data, we don’t really understand what our percentage is… because, you know, if everybody who’s well is not reporting, then our weekly infection rate is artificially high.”
Campus Clear had 2,417 registered users on Nov. 4, 2020. However, according to a newsletter from the Wellness Center sent on Jan. 20 of this year, only 29% community members actively report on Campus Clear when 80% of community members are needed to track the prevalence rate.
Ritzman said the wellness of the community will depend on individual commitment and transparency of their health with the university.
“You know, we really trust people to be transparent because they have everything to gain and everything to lose from,” Ritzman said. “If they lie, they contribute to a community where they could get sick; and, if they tell the truth, they contribute to a community that will keep them well.”
If a student reports a COVID symptom on Campus Clear, the Wellness Center staff will call to clarify if the symptom is COVID or the flu. Next, the student will schedule an in-person visit. Ritzman said that staff are trying to reduce the number of people inside to one per half hour.
The staff then take the student’s temperature in the lab before immediately sending them outside. Then the Wellness Center will immediately sanitize the space.
According to Barrington Price, Vice President of Student Success and Engagement, Dominican University also enrolled in MySHIELDIllinois starting in late December 2020. Students can enroll with MySHIELDIllinois through a private portal. The activation code of the portal is attached in an email sent to all students and expired at the end of Jan. 2021.
Students must complete MySHIELD registration prior to scheduling an on-campus test. According to Price, all COVID-19 tests take place at Priory Campus and students can email the Wellness Center for access to testing. The status of a student’s residency will not matter in the testing process, meaning both commuter and residents can access COVID-19 testing on campus.
qzhao@my.dom.edu
1 Trackback / Pingback
Comments are closed.