08/20/2021
By Paulette Renault Caragianes

With the start of the semester around the corner, the university would like to remind students, faculty and staff of current guidance from state and federal public health organizations that are an important part of our strategy to keep our campus healthy and safe.

As a reminder, anyone coming to campus should conduct the Daily Symptom Checker assessment to help determine if it is safe to come to campus.

While there have been changes in the guidance around quarantine after a known exposure to someone with COVID-19, the working definition of a close contact has not changed. A close contact remains an individual who was within six feet of an infected person for 15 minutes or more.

If you are fully vaccinated — defined as receiving the full complement of doses of whichever variety of vaccine at least two weeks ago — and have a known exposure to someone with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 and you do not have symptoms, you do not need to quarantine.

In this case, current guidance indicates you should make plans with your primary care physician to get tested three to five days after exposure. You should also wear a face covering in public indoor settings for 14 days or until you receive a negative test.

If you are not fully vaccinated DO NOT come to campus and initiate your quarantine. Instead, please call your primary care physician and make arrangements to be tested right away. If you are negative, you should make arrangements for follow-up testing as you are advised by a medical professional, or immediately if symptoms develop during your quarantine.

As indicated in the Daily Symptom Checker, students who test positive or have concerns about exposure should call 978-934-COV2 (2682) or email Student_SymptomReporting@uml.edu to talk to a health care professional about next steps including how to handle the potential need to be off campus. If you are a residential student, you should stay in your room until you talk to the health care professional to discuss next steps to support your health and the health of our community.

Employees should contact their supervisor and email the COVID-19 HR Response Team at COVID19HR@uml.edu or call Kim Casey at 978-934-3557.