COVID-19 Message
November 10, 2020
Faculty, Staff, and Students,
As we continue to move through this COVID-19 pandemic, I want to keep you informed of the requirements pertinent to maintaining the safety of our campus:
- On October 21,听the CDC revised their definition of close contacts to include any instance where a person is within 6 feet of an individual with听COVID-19听for a total of 15 minutes or more during a single 24-hour period.听This underscores the importance of maintaining a social distance of at least 6 feet from others at ALL times. This is key to eliminating any transmission on campus.
- UTHSC students and employees must continue to report positive diagnoses and the need
to quarantine following close contact with known positive individuals:
- UTHSC students听must report this to their Associate Dean, Department Chair,听Program Leader, or Division Director, who will then听report this information to Campus Safety by emailing Tim Barton at听tbarton4@uthsc.edu.
- UTHSC employees must report this via the听听on the HR website.
- Following a close contact with a known positive individual, you must quarantine for 14-days before returning to campus based on testing results. University Health Services will reach out to individuals that have received either a positive diagnosis or those who have been quarantining to coordinate their safe return to campus.
- Observance of campus guidelines, including the use of face masks and social distancing, can challenge social norms and routine work practices pre-COVID.听Supervisors and professors should provide ongoing support to their employees and students by raising awareness when they see at-risk behavior and prompting them with reminders about compliance.
- Our behavior at home and in social situations off campus has a major impact on our colleagues and our patients. As health care providers, many of us are actively seeing patients,听and must avoid gatherings or behaviors where the risk of COVID-19 transmission is high. At-risk behavior by us places our colleagues and patients at risk.
Thank you for your continued compliance with the COVID-19 safety measures, as we work hard to keep our campus safe from this virus!
Steve J. Schwab, MD
Chancellor