Allied Health and Technology Institute Reopening Guidelines COVID-19

August 2020
By the end of the month, we hope to reopen:
i) Academic facilities for courses that begin earlier than October
ii) Admissions processing for October 2020
Already open:
i) Several laboratories and associated spaces (phased, where buildings are ready and on the basis of priority)
ii) College house for end-year examination processing (partially open with staff reporting in shifts)
iii) College health center
September 2020
By the end of the month, the school administration will hold a full scale review to determine what areas can be reopened safely
We hope to reopen;
i) The library (weekdays 9am to 6pm)
ii) More academic facilities and departments
iii) Any remaining cafes and shops
iv) Any remaining laboratories
October 2020
we will be reopening some office spaces on reduced capacity for staff and faculty who may wish to work on campus
We hope to begin welcoming some of our students back on-campus from mid-October and prepare for the end-year examinations
November 2020
We welcome students back on-campus and begin the academic year with a combination of virtual and in-class learning
b) Support Safety of Employees and Students
Daily Health Screening
All students and staff need to carefully monitor their health every day. The following Covid-19 checklist will be employed every day to identify potential cases before in-person reporting to activities or classes at the institution:
i) Fever or chills
ii) Cough
iii) Difficulty breathing and/or shortness of breath
iv) Fatigue and body aches
v) Headache and sore throat
vi) New loss of smell or taste
vii) Runny nose and congestion
viii) Diarrhea
ix) Nausea and/or vomiting
Students and faculty will be empowered to self-monitor for these symptoms throughout the day and immediately report to the Director of Student Health Services (SHS). The institution could work towards developing a mobile app or tool that works like the PiratePort Tool at East Carolina University, which allows students and faculty to voluntarily register their mobile devices and thereafter receive alerts reminding them of their obligation to conduct self-screening and provide CDC guidance on the screening process and self-isolation. This would facilitate regular screening and help to ensure that individuals take charge of the individual screening process throughout the day.
Students and faculty who report to the SHS for suspicion of Covid-19 will undergo testing, with results expected in between 24 and 48 hours. Between the testing and receipt of results, the individuals will be categorized as ‘suspicious positive’ cases and will enter the institution’s quarantine plan. As the institution lacks residential facilities, suspected individuals will return home and await their results to be provided in not more than 48 hours via email or phone. The SHS will collaboratively with the Dean of Students arrange transportation back to one’s residence through institutional cars to avoid potential spread to rest of the members and public transportation.
Confirmed negatives will be cleared by the SHS to return to campus, while the confirmed positive cases will be required to adhere to the isolation and quarantine plan until they are confirmed negative by their healthcare provider and cleared to return by the SHS upon the provision of relevant documentation. Regular check-in calls from staff members could be organized regularly to provide psychological support and keep up the spirits of those in isolation. Students and faculty in isolation and quarantine will be advised to contact 911 or the SHS in case of worsening symptoms. In case of a surge in the number of suspected cases, the institution will suspend its routine care to focus on covid-19 patients and engage tele-health capabilities from the state department of health and human services to assess and treat patients before organizing their transportation.
Encouraging Health Practices
Students and faculty will be encouraged to bring their own pre-packed covid-19 prevention kits that includes cleaning supplies, face coverings, sanitizers, facial tissues, and toilet paper. The institution will provide cleaning supplies, sanitizers, facial tissues, and toilet papers at strategic points including classrooms, washrooms, dining areas, as well as at campus entry and exit points to support healthy practices at all times. In addition to providing supplies, the institution will provide regular weekly trainings to students and faculty to educate them on screening guidelines and proper hygiene strategies including hand-washing procedures, staying at home when ill, the concept of social distancing and the virus’ mode of transmission (WHO, 2020). The WHO also recommends that institutions allow students to make their own public service announcements via social media to educate and empower each other on prevention strategies (WHO, 2020).
In coordination with the local health department, the SHS will work together with students and faculty who test positive to identify close contacts within the institution. The contacts will be notified (via text message) that they have been exposed and instructed to get tested and quarantined. As a matter of heightened caution, the university will use email complementarily with text messages from the Dean of Students office to notify staff, faculty, and students of potential outbreaks in the institution, requiring them to remain vigilant about preventive practices, quarantine, carry out regular screening, and contact the SHS if they experience symptoms to minimize the risk of exposing others.
High-Risk Individuals
High-risk individuals, particularly those aged above 65 and those with underlying health conditions will be engaged in remote work and learning to mitigate their exposure to risk. At-risk students will work with their faculty to determine convenient ways to make up necessary in-class tests and agree on how to turn in assignments online. The use of podcasts could be considered to deliver class content to at-risk learners. At-risk faculty could be engaged in telework for duties that can be carried out remotely. For duties that cannot be carried out remotely, the institution could take steps to offer additional protection through the provision of alternating shifts, reduced hours of work, protective clothing, social distancing requirements, regular disinfection of common surfaces, and minimizing the sharing of equipment.
To actively encourage members of the Allied Institute community to stay home when sick or needed to take care of a sick relative, the institution needs to maintain flexible sick-leave and absenteeism policies. Faculty members will be advised not to reprimand learners who remain absent to take care of a relative or monitor symptoms, although students will be advised to notify their supervisors and faculty heads if they are to be absent for any reason. Faculty heads will be advised not to insist on leave substantiation such as doctors’ notes and to educate their employees on the need to stay home when ill. The institution could also implement leave donation plans that allow employees to donate leave days to coworkers who have been adversely affected and have exhausted their paid time-off benefits (SHRM, 2020).
Confirmed negatives will be cleared by the SHS to return to campus. Confirmed positives will be required to adhere to the isolation plan until they are confirmed negative by their healthcare provider and cleared to return by their supervisor (for employees) or SHS (for students) upon the provision of a medical return clearance. Students returning from international or domestic travel will be required to self-quarantine at home for a minimum of 14 days and will only be allowed back upon providing a medical clearance certificate to the SHS.
Social and Mental Health
Students will be encouraged to discuss their concerns and questions with faculty members, the Dean of Students and SHS staff. A PMHNP nurse will be available on-campus to allow students deal with their fears and receive psycho-social support to minimize the risk of confusion and mental illness. The staff and faculty will be empowered to help students understand that anyone could get infected and that they may experience different reactions. The institution will organize workshops that equip students with skills on how to support their peers, and to prevent bullying and exclusion. The institution also needs to provide signages for the national distress hotline 1-800-985-5990 and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273, to sensitize students to seek help if they are overwhelmed with feelings of anxiety, depression, sadness, and wanting to harm oneself or others.
c) Implement Controls to Limit Contact
Non-Medical Face Coverings (Masks)
Students and faculty will be required to wear clean face masks covering their nose and mouth while on-campus whenever they are outdoors and cannot maintain a physical distance of at least 6 feet. Students are to put on face masks whenever they are they are seated less than 6 feet apart in the classroom, when engaging in learning activities that require close contact, when transitioning between classes, when in narrow hallways, and when in common areas such as the dining room and lounges. Face coverings may not be necessary in the classrooms, laboratories, office spaces and fitness center if a safe distance of 6feet can be maintained.
Students wishing to eat or drink could take off their face coverings to do so as long as they maintain a social distance of at least 6 feet. Students will be allowed to take their meals from outside if the weather permits, or to otherwise maintain a distance of six feet during mealtimes in the dining area. The school will provide face masks at the nurse’s office for faculty and students who lack or forget their face coverings. Students and staff with medical conditions that preclude them from wearing face coverings will be required to report the same to the nurse for relevant action. Trainings will be provided to faculty and students regularly to educate them on the proper wearing, cleaning, and maintenance of face masks.
Social/Physical Distancing
The institution could consider staggering school schedules to include both time-at-home virtual learning and in-classroom time to reduce the number of students on-campus at any time. Physical distancing could be observed in communal or shared spaces by imposing restrictions on occupancy and staggering classroom transition times to minimize student interactions. Outside the classroom, large assemblies and gatherings are to be completely avoided unless when extremely necessary, in which case they are to be held in outdoor spaces that allow greater ventilation, and students and faculty are to be in face masks. To optimize physical distancing in dining services, the school could consider staggering meal times, substituting buffet-style service for takeout/delivery options and spacing seats and tables to allow for 6-feet distancing.
d) Potential Exposures and Positive Covid-19 Cases
Exclusion Criteria
Students and faculty who experience high fever or any other symptoms on-campus will be required to report the same to the SHS, and will undergo testing, with results expected in between 24 and 48 hours. Between the testing and receipt of results, the individuals will be categorized as ‘suspicious positive’ cases and will enter the institution’s quarantine plan. As the institution lacks residential facilities, suspected individuals will be immediately excluded from the rest of the school community and held at a separate room under observation for not more than two hours as they wait to be returned home or transferred to a health facility in liaison with the local department of health, pending the release of results to be provided in not more than 48 hours via email or phone.
Students, staff, and faculty confirmed positive will be required to adhere to the isolation plan until they are cleared to return by the SHS upon the provision of relevant documentation. Regular check-in calls from staff members could be organized to provide psychological support and keep spirits up. Those in isolation will also be provided with information about contacting 911 or the SHS in case of worsening symptoms.
Dismissal Criteria
For faculty, staff, and students secluded in the observation room, the SHS will, collaboratively with the Dean of Students, arrange transportation back to one’s residence through institutional cars to avoid potential spread to rest of the members and public transportation.
e) Cleaning and Disinfecting
The institution needs to develop a schedule for routine cleaning and disinfection of frequently-touched surfaces such as sinks, faucets, toilets, phones, desks, handles, countertops, light-switches, tables, and door-knobs, as well as routine fumigation of transport vehicles. Cleaning supplies and sanitizers are to be placed at strategic points including classrooms, washrooms, dining areas, as well as at entry and exit points to support healthy practices at all times. Hand-washing stations are to be placed at strategic points of the institution in the ratio of 1:10 (one washing station serving ten students). The institution is to minimize sharing of equipment as much as possible, but routine disinfection is to be employed to properly sanitize shared equipment and objects when sharing is inevitable.
Custodial staff are to be provided with personal protective equipment and EPA-approved cleaning agents to minimize their risk of exposure at work. Trainings will also be offered to educate custodial staff on effective use of protective gear as well as the safe and effective use of cleaning products.
f) Building Considerations
Instructional and other Facilities
The institution needs to educate members of the community on the value of proper ventilation in minimizing the risk of exposure to covid-19. Posters could be circulated and reminders developed to sensitize students and staff to keep windows and doors open, or adjust air conditioning to ensure proper ventilation. Fans need to be installed carefully and securely near windows in classrooms, offices, and other indoor spaces to increase the effectiveness of open windows while not inducing potentially contaminated airflow from one person to another. To minimize the risk of Legionnaires disease and other water-related diseases, the institution needs to ensure the safety of its water systems through developing a water management program, proper maintenance of water heating systems, proper maintenance of safety equipment, and proper maintenance of water systems and cooling towers (CDC, 2019). These steps will help flush out stagnant water and replace the same with fresh water, thus minimizing the risk of illnesses.
g) Shutdown Considerations if Necessitated by Severe Conditions
An institution may need to implement short-term dismissal or shutdown procedures if an infected member of the college community has been on-campus and has had significant contact with other faculty or students. There is a need to engage with local public health officials to determine their considerations on the most appropriate action to protect the well-being of members of the school community.
Depending on the public health officials’ recommendations, the institution could consider scaling down or reducing campus activity and suspending events such as sports, field trips, and assemblies for a short period to allow heath officials gain a better understanding of the Covid-19. If the infected person is suspected to have only interacted with members of a certain cohort, the school administrators may choose a partial shutdown of common areas and classrooms in that cohort (CDC, 2019). In case public health officials do not deem it necessary to shut down operations, a thorough cleaning and disinfection of any areas that the infected person visited will be carried out to ensure safety (CDC, 2019).
Dismissal and shutdown decisions will be based on the recommendations of local health officials and made on a case-to-case basis taking into account the degree of community transmission, local case counts and available up-to-date Covid-19 information (CDC, 2019). These variables will also determine how long the institution is to remain shut or activities suspended. If the levels of transmission within the school are higher than infection rates in the community or if the school is the source of an outbreak, the administration will consider complete closure. The administration will communicate decisions on shutdown or suspension to faculty, staff, and students in a timely manner via email and internal memos. The administration will be keen to explain the specific factors driving the decision to minimize the spread of rumors that could cause unnecessary panic. The school will conduct regular communication to update students, faculty, and staff about academic outcomes and the plan for continuing lectures to reduce uncertainty and anxiety.
h) Communication Strategy
In the case of a suspected test, the institution will notify DC Health of the same via call on 202-576-1117 and leave a voicemail with direct phone number to allow them to call back in case there is no answer (DC Health, 2020). Notification to DC Health will include information on the patient’s state of residence, contact information, detailed symptom history, underlying comorbidities, detailed travel history, and lists of potential contacts to facilitate contact tracing ((DC Health, 2020). The Department will organize for testing and relay the results on confirmed positive cases to the institution to aid in contact tracing.
Communicating to the school community is equally important. When there is a confirmed Covid-19 case on-campus, the school will communicate the information to the school community via email without disclosing personally identifiable information on patients and their families. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prevents educational institutions from disclosing personally identifiable information about a patient to other students and staff in the school community without prior consent.
In line with the DC Health Directives, the school administrators will reach out to their close contacts within the school community and notify them via text that they have been exposed and will be required to self-quarantine for 14 days to monitor whether they develop symptoms. The institution will offer support to help the contacts understand what exposure means, how to check for symptoms, and when to seek medical help. The Dean of Students will immediately reach out to contacts to make arrangements for remote learning during quarantine, while the Human Resources Department will contact staff to make plans for remote working.
As a matter of caution and to reduce spread, the school administrators will also notify via email the rest of the school community that a positive case has been confirmed. Although they will not be ordered to quarantine, they will be advised to remain vigilant on preventive practices, watch out for symptoms, and seek medical services in case they develop symptoms so as not to expose others. Further, the school community will be advised that the affected have been ordered to quarantine and that steps are underway to disinfect and sanitize the affected areas.
I) Academic Affairs
Traditional on-site clinical experiences, internships, and field placements may unfortunately not be accommodated in the current situation. For internships, the institution will make plans with relevant agencies to substitute in-person internships with virtual internships whenever possible. Clinical experience and field placements will be postponed until the clinical learning environment stabilizes as the school community may not be in a position to meet the relevant PPE requirements. The institution could also consider alternative approaches to obtaining internship and clinical experience credit such as changing the grading option to accommodate the current situation.
The institution could put in place mechanism to ensure as little disruption to academic services as possible. In this regard, library services, academic advising, and career services will be available online to facilitate remote learning.
References
CDC (2019). Operating Schools during Covid-19: CDC’s Considerations. Center for Diseases Prevention and Control (CDC). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/schools.html
DC Health (2020). Health Notice for district of Columbia Healthcare Providers . DC Health. Retrieved from https://dchealth.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/doh/publication/attachments/COVID-19_HAN_20200305_Final_update.pdf
WHO (2020). Key Messages and Actions for Covid-19 Prevention and Control in Schools. World Health Organization. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/key-messages-and-actions-for-covid-19-prevention-and-control-in-schools-march-2020.pdf?sfvrsn=baf81d52_4