What is Contact Tracing?
If a member of the SAU community – including students, faculty and staff – tests positive for COVID-19, we will follow standard contact tracing protocols to identify and communicate directly with those who had close contact with the individual. Close contact is defined as any individual within 6 feet of an infected person, masked or unmasked, for a cumulative time of 15 minutes.
All students, faculty and staff, regardless of vaccination status, are required to participate in COVID-19 contact tracing, including reporting positive tests, providing information on potential close contacts, responding to outreach from contact tracing staff or volunteers and keeping your contact information update.
Gordon Health Center, with guidance from the local Health Department, conducts close contact tracing when students and employees test positive for COVID-19. Your name and information will not be shared and remains confidential. If contacted by the SAU Contact Tracer, you will be asked to identify yourself. Please be honest and forthcoming with information on close contact so that all those who may have been exposed can be contacted.
In addition, if you receive outreach from University or county health contact tracing staff or volunteers, you are required to take follow-up steps including entering quarantine or isolation and taking a COVID-19 test as directed.
The COVID-19 Community Standards outline student, faculty and staff responsibilities for providing accurate information on close contacts.
How are results of COVID-19 testing communicated to the SAU community?
The SAU COVID-19 Dashboard helps us track and analyze the impact of COVID-19 on the overall health of our campus community.
Consistent with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, as well as other privacy considerations, schools, departments and units should not communicate about COVID-19 positive cases broadly to their populations. Individuals who have been potentially exposed to the positive case will be notified through the University’s contact tracing procedures, making broad communications unnecessary.
The University is committed to communicating important information in a timely manner while maintaining the privacy of students, faculty and staff. In some circumstances it may be appropriate for the University to inform specific campus populations – whether within a specific residence hall, office building, classroom or other defined campus environment – as an additional precaution, subject to important privacy laws that prevent the disclosure of information that may be used to identify the individual(s) who tested positive. The University will make decisions on any communications to specific campus populations based upon approved guidelines and coordinate decisions with schools, departments and units. The University will determine the release of non-identifying communications about clusters of positive results based on approved guidelines
The University notifies the local health department with the current local residence information for any individual who tests positive. This residence information is determined by where the student, faculty or staff member is living at the time the positive test occurs.