Dominican University responds to an added number of COVID-19 cases from last week with stricter measures of Campus Clear uses.
The total new positive cases from Oct. 10-22 is 13, doubling from the six cases of the week past. According to the COVID-19 dashboard, 12 students and 1 employee on campus tested positive this week.
Barrington Price, vice president for Student Success and Engagement, said the COVID-19 cases found this week are scattered throughout campus. Barrington said the data does not show clusters in any particular area.
As an active measure, Dominican University will adopt reinforcement of the symptom monitor app Campus Clear starting this week.
As of Oct. 26, Welcome and Information Desk (WID) workers will check that students, staff, and employees have completed Campus Clear. Campus Safety officers will be present at other entry points with no WID workers.
On the COVID-19 Dashboard, under Caritas Commitment Compliance, Dominican University sees a decrease of reporting on Campus Clear. A total of 686 people reported their health status on the app on Oct. 22—a decrease of 108 from 794 on Oct. 20.
“So, really that’s again another datapoint that’s informing why we are saying we need to have checkpoints to ensure that people are completing and are good to go,” Price said.
Price also mentioned that no penalization will happen to students who did not submit their status on Campus Clear. Student Success and Engagement will offer resources, such as computers, to students who might need them.
“And we don’t want to penalize people; there’s no penalty to anybody for not having a ‘Good to Go’ [on Campus Clear]” Price said. “If you don’t have a ‘Good to Go,’ you know, we are going to work with you, meaning SSE (Student Success and Engagement) is going to work with students to make sure they have everything they need.”
Price also clarified that all Dominican University classes will move online at 75 active not accumulative positive cases. The active cases fall within the past two weeks. As of now, Dominican University has a total of 19 active cases from Oct 9-22.
Price said the number can also vary day by day as people recover from COVID-19 but it is a rough estimate for assessment of campus health. He also noted that the university will take proactive measures if the total active cases reaches 35.
“So, we wouldn’t wait till we get to 75, 35 would trigger us to say: Do we need to move things online or not,” Price said.
According to Price, decline in Campus Clear reports received and the general increase of COVID-19 cases in the counties signal the need to check Campus Clear usage.
“When you look at the dashboard, it’s not that we are reacting to one metric or because the number of cases is too high; it’s really a combination of all of those things,” Price said. “So, the counties around us going up, a small uptick on our dashboard. If you look at the bottom of the dashboard, you will see a decrease in submissions on Campus Clear. All of those data points together signify we probably should take another step – it’s an uptick in our mitigation strategy.”
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