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COVID-19 SPREAD
Aug. 14: Can we get the positive/negative numbers for the at-home COVID tests the university sent out? Answer provided Aug. 15: OU Housing is planning on releasing information late next week. Aug. 17: Were students notified of their (COVID-19) results before moving in? Yes, students, OU Housing and Goddard Health Center were notified of results prior to moving into their assigned housing. All three steps of the Move-In process must be completed for students to move into OU Housing. Students who fail to complete the required process will be scheduled for a later move-in date. • Complete an at-home COVID-19 test. OU has partnered with Vault Health to mail students an at-home saliva based COVID-19 test to complete in advance of their arrival to campus. Students received an email during the week of July 20 with full details and instructions on how to receive and submit their COVID-19 test during OU’s two-day testing window of August 4-5 for the Residence Halls and the Residential Colleges and August 10-11 for Traditions Square. Once students registered, testing kits were mailed and students administered home test(s) at no cost to students. • Receive a negative COVID-19 test result. Test results are emailed to students and to OU Health Services up to four days after their test arrives at the Vault Health lab. • Complete the University’s online health screening five days prior to their return to campus. Students must complete this step regardless of their COVID-19 test result. Due to a number of circumstances, students who hadn’t received results were put in direct contact with OU Housing and worked with their local healthcare provider or Goddard Health Center to receive a polymerase chain reaction test. Once a negative result was submitted to Goddard Health Center, students were cleared to move into assigned housing. Aug. 19: Can you tell me why OU isn’t tracking positive COVID-19 cases among community members or making that information public like many other universities are? The university is exploring best practices for tracking and reporting COVID-19 cases. Aug. 21: What’s on the COVID dashboard? The dashboard is still under development and is slated to launch near the end of next week. Aug. 21: Recently White House reports and recommendations have been leaked in some news outlets. In one of them, Deborah Birx, one of the White House’s leading experts on the coronavirus pandemic, noted that universities which are re-opening should have some kind of contingency for “surge testing” as the semester begins. Does the university have a process in place to complement its entry testing with surge testing in the event students begin testing positive? The university offers free testing for all students, staff and faculty through Goddard Health Center. Any OU community member experiencing
symptoms or who has reason to suspect they have been exposed to COVID-19 is encouraged to get tested. Goddard Health provides contact tracing on campus and administers PCR testing for anyone who is a direct contact with a person who tests positive for COVID-19. To schedule a curbside test, OU community members should call (405) 325-4441. OU is exploring possible surveillance testing on campus; however, no decisions have been made. Aug. 21: Those [leaked White House] reports also note some states as “red zones” for COVID-19 status. Oklahoma is one of those states. Was the university aware of this, and if so, did it play into the decision over the summer to return in-person this fall? The university’s Chief COVID Officer, Dr. Bratzler, and other health leaders at OU [Health Sciences Center] routinely review several reports related to COVID-19 activity in Oklahoma. Over the past three weeks, the seven-day rolling average of new cases in Oklahoma has decreased, and the percent of positive tests has plateaued with the last two weeks at less than 10 percent. This is a metric that the university is closely watching along with case counts across the state, in Cleveland County and in the zip codes around the university. Aug. 24: I’m reaching out to try and confirm a question we’ve been seeing about how OU student COVID-19 cases will be counted in Health Department data. Some people have heard that if an OU student tests positive for COVID-19 during the semester, it will be counted as a positive case in their home county rather than in Cleveland County. I was wondering if there’s any way you can confirm this, or let me know who might be able to confirm this? I’m attaching a screenshot for reference. Answer provided Aug. 25: OU students who receive a positive test from Goddard Health are tracked according to their provided address. Students living in OU Housing and those who reside in Cleveland County are reported through the Cleveland County Health Department, if those individuals provide their OU Housing or Cleveland County address. If a student’s provided address is outside of Cleveland County, the data is tracked in their respective county health departments. Goddard staff encourages local addresses to be used to ensure medical communications go directly to the patient and for proper tracking and reporting. No positive cases through Goddard have been tracked out of state. Aug. 26: Do you have a number on how many positive cases through Goddard have been tracked in counties other than Cleveland County vs. how many have been tracked in Cleveland County? I was just told by my contact at the state health department that OSU’s COVID-19 testing is counting all its student positive cases in Payne County, even if the student lists a different address, due to Payne County officials expressing that they would like OSU students to be counted in Payne County. Is this something Cleveland County officials have expressed interest in OU doing, or has it been discussed/considered at all by OU officials? Answer provided Aug. 27: If I am understanding you correctly, you are asking if Goddard positive results are being tracked in other counties outside of Cleveland County?
This is a question that will need to be clarified through the Oklahoma State Department of Health. Goddard reports positive cases to OSDH and the State Health Department tracks positive cases by the address provided. Goddard Health Services works under the guidance of the Cleveland County Health Department for contact tracing. _____________________________________________
COVID-19 screening: Aug. 27: How does OU plan to enforce honest use of the COVID Screening and Reporting Tool? The screening tool is voluntary for those who are not directed to fill it out as a condition for campus access, clearance or some other action requested by the university. Under current university policy, students, faculty and staff who plan to return to campus must complete the COVID-19 Screening and Reporting Tool each time any of the following applies: 1. Absence from Campus – Employees and students who have been away from campus for any reason for seven consecutive calendar days or more must complete the COVID-19 Screening and Reporting Tool. 2. Travel – Employees and students who have traveled domestically or internationally must complete the COVID-19 Screening and Reporting Tool unless the traveler qualifies for the Commuter Process. Domestic travel is defined as travel outside the State of Oklahoma. 3. Close Contact – Employees and students who have had close contact with an individual diagnosed with COVID-19 or who has had symptoms of COVID-19 in the last 14 days must complete the COVID-19 Screening and Reporting Tool. 4. Experiencing Symptoms – Employees and students experiencing symptoms that could be consistent with COVID-19, such as fever, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, chills, muscle pain, sore throat, recent loss of taste or smell and/or extreme fatigue, must complete the COVID-19 Screening and Reporting Tool. They should also contact their health care provider regarding specific symptoms. 5. Positive Test – Employees and students who test positive for COVID-19 may not return to campus until they have been cleared by Goddard Health Center to return. 6. Positive Household Member – Employees and students with a household member who has tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 14 days must complete the COVID-19 Screening and Reporting Tool. The university urges all community members who plan to be on campus to take personal responsibility in adhering to OU’s COVID-19 protocols, which include the screening tool. Completion is a requirement as it relates to a condition for access, clearance or some other action requested by the university.
