New COVID Reporting Details for SLU Employees and Clinical Students
July 1, 2022
Dear University Community members:
As of today, July 1, SLU’s support of University staff and faculty who have a confirmed COVID infection, or suspect one, will be managed by our COVID Response Team.
Support of medical, health sciences, nursing and social work students who have clinical assignments at community clinics and who have a confirmed COVID infection, or suspect one, will be managed by the Student Health Center.
The Office of Employee Health no longer screens for COVID infection nor provides any COVID-19 testing.
The following protocols apply to all of our SLU employees and to our students who have clinical assignments.
At the bottom of this email, there is information about COVID-related services for our students who do not currently have clinical assignments/responsibilities.
All Employees and Clinical Students
Reporting a COVID infection or exposure
Staff and faculty should email contacttracing@health.slu.edu or call 314-977-7580 if:
- You have tested positive for COVID-19.
- You think you have been exposed to a COVID-infected person.
Medical, health sciences, nursing and social work students who have clinical assignments should contact the Student Health Center immediately at 314-977-2323 if:
- You have tested positive for COVID-19.
- You think you have been exposed to a COVID-infected person.
Assessing COVID-like symptoms
Staff and faculty who are experiencing COVID-like symptoms — similar to cold, flu and allergy symptoms — should not come to campus until they have been evaluated by a medical professional to determine if COVID-19 testing is needed. Please notify your supervisor if this requires an absence from work.
Symptomatic staff and faculty should immediately contact:
- Their primary care provider.
- Their urgent care provider.
- Or the nurse line of your health insurance company. The phone number for the nurse line at UHC, SLU’s primary health insurer, is 1-866-747-4325.
They will assess your symptoms and determine whether you should be tested for COVID-19.
Medical, health sciences, nursing and social work students who have clinical assignments and who are experiencing COVID-like symptoms — similar to cold, flu and allergy symptoms — should not come to campus or go to clinicals until they have received COVID-19 testing.
Symptomatic medical, health sciences, nursing and social work students who have clinical assignments should immediately contact the Student Health Center at 314-977-2323. A student health nurse is available 24/7 to assess symptoms and schedule a COVID-19 test.
Testing for COVID
Symptomatic staff and faculty who do not have clinical assignments/responsibilities who have been directed to be tested for COVID — or who wish to be tested for their own peace of mind — should seek testing from a local:
- community testing center, such as a pharmacy. There is ample testing available at Walgreens, CVS, and other pharmacies.
- urgent care provider
You can find a community test site by using this online tool.
Please wear a face mask when visiting any COVID testing site.
You may also obtain a free at-home COVID test here or purchase one from a local pharmacy.
Per federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines, symptomatic staff and faculty who have clinical assignments/responsibilities and who have been directed to be tested for COVID may obtain a free COVID-19 PCR test from our COVID-19 Response Team. Please email pandemic@slu.edu or call 314-977-7580 to arrange this testing.
Medical, health sciences, nursing and social work students who have clinical assignments and who are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 may obtain testing through the Student Health Center. You may schedule an appointment at 314-977-2323.
Contact Tracing
Staff and faculty who test positive for COVID are required to report their confirmed infections to our Contact Tracing Team via email at contacttracing@health.slu.edu or phone at 314-977-7580.
All faculty, staff, and students are required to respond to a phone call, text or email from our Contact Tracing Team in two hours or less, if you have tested positive for COVID.
Sick leave for COVID infections
If you have COVID, you should not report to your on-campus workplace. You must remain at home, isolate and recover from your COVID infection.
Since the start of the pandemic, the University has provided employees access to an additional 80 hours of sick leave to ensure individuals have paid time off in the event of a COVID-related absence. This additive leave has been especially appreciated by employees who have endured long isolation or quarantine periods, or have been infected two times in a calendar year.
If you test positive for COVID, we will notify your supervisor only upon request.
Supervisors who wish to confirm that their employee has tested positive for COVID can contact us at pandemic@slu.edu. Also, please don’t hesitate to contact us if you need direction related to notifying coworkers or students of an employee who has tested positive.
Clearance to return to work
Our COVID-19 Response Team will provide a timely clearance for you to return to work once you meet the criteria for ending your isolation or quarantine period. Please email pandemic@slu.edu to arrange for clearance to return to work.
Students’ clearance to return to clinicals
The Student Health Center will provide a timely clearance for students to return to clinicals. Please note that there are different criteria to return to clinicals versus being able to return to classes. The Student Health Center may be reached at 314-977-2323.
Close contacts of a COVID-positive staff or faculty member
The work of our Contact Tracing Team is a critical component of us preventing community transmission. The team traces any on-campus close contacts of COVID-positive staff, faculty, and students.
If you test positive for COVID-19, or are deemed a close contact of someone who has tested positive, our Contact Tracing Team will rely on you having a good recollection of those with whom you had come in contact, and who was or wasn’t wearing a face mask.
Your details about time, place, and length of interaction — with and without face masks — can expedite our Contact Tracing Team’s interventions and help prevent community spread on our campus and in our City.
You are required to respond to a phone call, text or email from our Contact Tracing team in 12 hours or less, if you are identified as a close contact of someone who has tested positive.
All close contacts will need to be tested 5 to 7 days after their exposure — regardless of their vaccination status — unless they have tested positive within the past 90 days. If you know or suspect you have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 or you are identified as a close contact through the SLU contact tracing process, you may obtain free COVID-19 testing through our COVID-19 Response Team. Please email pandemic@slu.edu to arrange for this testing. Or you may be tested at a local pharmacy or community testing site.
Students Who Do Not Currently Have Clinical Responsibilities
The protocols are the same as they were for this past academic year.
Reporting a COVID infection or exposure
Contact the Student Health Center immediately at 314-977-2323 if:
- You have tested positive for COVID-19.
- You think you have been exposed to a COVID-infected person.
Assessing COVID-like symptoms
Do not come to campus or class until you have received COVID-19 testing.
Immediately contact the Student Health Center at 314-977-2323. A student health nurse is available 24/7 to assess symptoms and schedule a COVID-19 test.
Testing for COVID
Symptomatic students may obtain testing through the Student Health Center. You may schedule an appointment at 314-977-2323.
Clearance to return to class/campus
The Student Health Center will provide a timely clearance for students to return to class/campus. Student Health may be reached at 314-977-2323.
Close contacts of a COVID-positive individual
You are required to respond to a phone call, text or email from our Contact Tracing team in 12 hours or less, if you are identified as a close contact of someone who has tested positive.
All close contacts will need to be tested — regardless of their vaccination status, unless they have tested positive within the past 90 days. If you know or suspect you have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 or you are identified as a close contact through the SLU contact tracing process, you may obtain free COVID-19 testing through our COVID-19 Response Team. Please email pandemic@slu.edu to arrange for this testing. Or you may be tested at a local pharmacy or community testing site.
Thank you for your consideration and assistance as we work to prevent serious infections among our most vulnerable colleagues, minimize community spread and keep our campus open and in-person.
As always, if you have any questions, please email us at pandemic@slu.edu.
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 and Biostatistics
College for Public Health and Social Justice