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COVID-19 Update: Super Bowl, Employee Contact Tracing, Asymptomatic Testing, More

11/19/2021

February 10, 2022

To the Saint Louis University community,

As we wrap up the fourth week of the semester, I write to offer a few updates, along with some reminders for this upcoming Super Bowl weekend.

We are glad to see that infections on campus appear to be decreasing, in concert with the continuing decline in infection rates in the region. But it is important to note that – even given the downward trend – infection rates are still as high as they were during our previous highest peak of cases on campus, in the weeks following the many unmasked Halloween parties in 2020.

We must continue to minimize disease transmission, so that we can do our part to get on the other side of this Omicron wave.

Topics in today’s update include:

  1. Reminders for Super Bowl Sunday
  2. Proof of booster doses for non-SLUCare employees is due February 28
  3. Weekly asymptomatic surveillance testing will continue through March 4
  4. The pause on academic notifications will continue
  5. Contact tracing for non-clinical employees is now an optional service

1. Super Bowl Sunday

If you gather with others to watch the game this Sunday, please continue to be vigilant about safety precautions. Remember that unmasked socializing has been a primary cause of disease transmission on campus — and students moving into isolation or quarantine housing. Use good judgment about the number of people and the space in which you gather. Please wear your mask, except when you are actively eating or drinking.

2. Reminder: Proof of booster doses for non-SLUCare faculty and staff due February 28

Non-SLUCare faculty and staff who are eligible to receive a booster dose must submit proof of vaccination by Monday, February 28. Verification, in the form of a .jpg, .png or .pdf image of your CDC or WHO vaccination card, can be uploaded to our online portal. Requests for medical and religious exemptions are due that same day and must be submitted through the online portal.

To sign up for a booster dose at SLU, you can use this link to find a date that works best for you. Booster doses are also widely available in the greater community. Please follow this link to schedule an appointment to receive your booster at a community clinic near you: https://www.vaccines.gov/search.

As a reminder: SLU policy follows CDC guidance about when you are eligible to receive a booster.

3. Weekly asymptomatic surveillance testing will continue through March 4

As indicated in the January 14 email update, we have been testing a random sample of 10% of our on-campus students each week for three weeks, in order to monitor infection rates among our residential students living in a congregate setting. We are currently concluding the third week of surveillance testing; as promised, we have reviewed the data so far to determine next steps going forward.

To date, we have seen a decrease in positivity rates, from approximately 5% in the first week of random sample testing, down to approximately 3% in the second week. The decline is good news, but the positivity rate still exceeds what we saw in any surveillance testing samples during the 2020-2021 academic year. Our asymptomatic testing program also has helped identify at least one cluster of cases among our residential students.

Given the upcoming opportunities for social gatherings (e.g., the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras), we feel that it is important to continue to keep an eye on asymptomatic cases among students in our residential housing in order to reduce disease transmission and to identify potential clusters of cases.

We will therefore continue testing a random sample of 10% of our on-campus students each week through March 4. We will evaluate the data the following week, and decide at that point whether random sample asymptomatic testing should be continued.

As a reminder: participation in our asymptomatic testing program is a requirement. Students who are selected for asymptomatic testing and fail to participate will be referred to the Office of Student Responsibility and Community Standards.

4. Continuing our pause on academic notifications

As Provost Lewis shared with faculty on January 27, COVID-19-related academic notifications to instructors are currently paused due to a few factors, including the timing of test results, student isolation times, and the volume of positive tests we saw at the start of the semester.

We are going to continue this pause until further notice, because of the challenges the above factors continue to present.

However, the Dean of Students Office will continue to track these authorized absences and provide notifications to instructors at either the request of the student or the instructor. If you are a student who is isolating due to a positive test result or in quarantine due to an exposure, or an instructor who would like to receive a notification about a student who has been absent from class, please reach out to deanofstudents@slu.edu to request notification.

5. Contact tracing for non-clinical employees is now an optional service

Starting last fall, our internal Contact Tracing team began conducting contact tracing for our non-clinical employees. This was done because we had removed physical distancing in the classrooms/lab spaces, and we wanted to monitor closely the potential for classroom or lab-based transmission.

Our campus contact tracing efforts since that time have found that infected employees are not contributing to campus disease transmission, except in rare cases where there have been campus-related gatherings where people are unmasked.

Therefore, starting this week, contact tracing for non-clinical employees will be an optional service provided by our internal Contact Tracing team.

Non-clinical employees who have tested positive for COVID-19 or believe they have had an exposure to someone infected with COVID-19 may request contact tracing services. You may do so by emailing pandemic@slu.edu and asking to be connected to the SLU Contact Tracing team. Someone from our Contact Tracing team will then reach out to you for assistance.

Regardless of whether contact tracing services are requested, non-clinical employees are encouraged to reach out to their close contacts to notify them that they have been exposed and recommend follow-up testing. A close contact is any person who was 6 feet or closer to a COVID-positive person for a cumulative total of 15 or more minutes in one 24-hour period.

If you wish to inform any campus close contacts without identifying yourself, we encourage you to get in touch with the SLU Contact Tracing team, as described above.

Although contact tracing services are now optional for non-clinical employees in most situations, our team will continue to monitor campus for COVID-19 transmission. If we identify a campus-related gathering that involved an infected individual who exposed employees through unmasked exposure, those employees will require follow-up testing, following University isolation and quarantine protocols.

All employees are still required to report COVID-like symptoms, a positive COVID-19 test result, or exposure to COVID-19 to Employee Health at 314-257-8400. Employee Health will also continue to conduct contact tracing for clinical employees.

Again, thank you for continuing to follow SLU’s public health guidance. Your continued efforts ensure we can continue to work in community together.

Stay safe and be well.

Terri Rebmann, Ph.D., RN, CIC, FAPIC
Special Assistant to the President
Director, Institute for Biosecurity
Professor, Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics
College for Public Health & Social Justice