Matt said that the best way to mitigate the risk of the coronavirus is to layer in all of the safety precautions. She believes that everybody should understand why all the precautions are so important.
“Each one of these on their own is not going to address everything, but layered together … we really hope that this is the safety net,” Porter said.
Matt and Porter said that STAR Campus has a lot of additional safety measures in place to keep its students safe.
“One of the things that they put in place at UD … carefully at the beginning is to really keep the density in the buildings low,” Matt said.
Porter created signs informing entrants of the symptoms of coronavirus as well as encouraging social distancing and face coverings. These signs are placed throughout the complex. There are also many hand washing stations, plexiglass shields at the counters and more frequent visits from the custodial staff.
Matt said that there is an infrared thermometer mounted on a moveable stand that is placed right near the entrance. Since all students, staff and visitors have to come in through one entrance, the thermometer is there to monitor their temperatures. There is also a survey that all entrants must fill out. The survey asks them questions about their symptoms, temperatures and potential contact.
“So we have all of that and they also fob in and out of the building,” Matt said. “So if someone comes up positive, we know when they were in the building, where they were and who they may have come in contact with.”
Porter said that depending upon the type of clinic, additional personal protective equipment (PPE) may be used such as clear plastic face shields.
“It’s clinical settings already so there’s also some additional PPE already in place,” Porter said. “But we’ve taken that baseline and added additional precautions just to ensure we’re doing everything to mitigate the spread of the virus.”
In the event that somebody does test positive, Matt said that the individual would quarantine immediately and the custodial crew would come to disinfect the building. However, Matt said that the time frame and protocol may vary due to “how quickly you can get results back” and whether the person was symptomatic or asymptomatic. Both Matt and Porter reiterated that they would follow both national and university guidelines.
“I really think we’re using the opportunity as much as we can, keeping everybody safe, but also trying to emphasize that we can all learn from being in this situation,” Matt said. “What we really want to do is to impress on the students: ‘Take these precautions. Wear your mask. Wash your hands. Social distance. Those things really work to decrease the spread of the virus.’”
Article by ERIC MUNSON (Associate News Editor)
Published August 30, 2020
Source: UDReview