Fall 2023 COVID-19 Updates

September 13, 2023

Dear University community members:

 

While the worst of the pandemic appears to be well behind us, the COVID-19 virus continues to circulate.

 

In fact, 69 students reported COVID infections from August 26 to September 11. However, this represents a 72 percent decrease over the same 17-day period last year.

 

None of us wants to unwittingly precipitate a surge of COVID infections among our classmates or teams. Or among our social, study or work groups.

 

So, it’s important that students, staff and faculty continue to be alert for COVID symptoms — and not ignore them. And then, get tested for COVID, as quickly as possible.

 

Required testing and isolation are some of the few COVID safeguards we have in place for fall semester. We have no desire to return to heightened public health protocols — unless on- and off-campus data, and our values, dictate we do so.

 

In a message to the University community on April 3, President Pestello summarized COVID protocols that had been immediately rescinded or scaled back as of that date.

 

Today’s communication reviews the modified COVID safeguards for the fall semester:

• COVID testing
• New isolation timeframe
• Expanded isolation in-place protocols in all on-campus housing units
• Very limited face mask use
• Upcoming flu and COVID vaccination clinics 

Your use of these less-restrictive COVID protocols will help ensure we prevent COVID disease spread on our St. Louis campuses — and help to protect students, staff and faculty who are immunocompromised or have serious health conditions that could be worsened by a COVID-19 infection.

 

If you develop COVID symptoms

Remember, COVID symptoms are like the symptoms of cold and flu.

 

All community members should take the following steps if you experience COVID symptoms:

• Please do not come to work, classes, the lab or the library. Please remain in your home, off-campus apartment or on-campus living space.
• Please wait until you get the okay from Student Health or your health care provider before you return to class or work on our St. Louis campuses.

Graduate and undergraduate students should contact the Student Health Center (SHC) by email or phone at 314-977-2323. You also can contact the SHC via your MyChart account.

 

You will be screened by an SHC healthcare professional. A take-home COVID test will be provided, if deemed appropriate for your circumstances.

 

Alternatively, please contact your primary care provider to report your symptoms.

 

Faculty and staff should contact their primary care provider about the need to be tested, and report a positive test to their healthcare provider.

 

While COVID tests may not be as readily available as they were a year ago, COVID tests may be obtained from state-sponsored testing sites and the St. Louis County Health Department.

 

Faculty should report a positive COVID test and their potential isolation-exit date to their department chair. In discussions with the chair, they should consider how their classroom or lab absence will be managed and communicate to their students.

 

Staff should report a positive test and their potential isolation-exit date to their supervisor, and follow current practices about work projects and deadlines. Staff continue to have access to a generous sick leave bank which may go negative up to 80 hours for COVID-related absences, including time needed to care for a household member with COVID.

 

More detailed information about reporting your isolation period to your instructors, supervisor or chair can be found here.

 

Our COVID isolation protocol for students, faculty and staff

The University abides by the current isolation guidance of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC’s isolation protocols are less restrictive than those that we had in place during spring semester.

 

Depending upon your symptoms and testing, an SHC practitioner, urgent care provider or primary care provider will calculate your isolation period for you.

 

More details about our isolation protocol may be found here. 

 

Isolation in place for all residential students

At the start of our Spring 2023 semester, we piloted having COVID-positive students in select housing spaces isolated-in-place rather than isolated at Hotel Ignacio. That experiment proved very successful with our students.

 

In April, we expanded isolation-in-place to a broader criteria of on-campus housing spaces.

 

For fall semester, Student Health Center practitioners and staff are directing all residential students who test positive for COVID to remain in their living spaces and isolate in-place. Student Health providers also are checking in on our isolating students periodically to be sure isolation is going as well as possible.

 

Of course, if your hometown is a drivable distance, you can always isolate in the comfort of your home.

 

How do residential students isolate-in-place?

The direction for a COVID-positive residential student to isolate in place will be communicated by phone or email by a health care practitioner in the Student Health Center.

 

Our off-campus students who have tested positive for COVID have been isolating in place since the start of the pandemic.

 

Once informed, a student will remain in or return to their living space and stay there for the isolation period, typically for about 6 consecutive days.

 

We encourage roommates and suitemates to have a conversation about how they will want to manage isolation-in-place in their shared living space now — before you are taken by surprise.

 

More details about isolating in place may be found here.

 

Very limited face mask use

• After leaving isolation, per the current CDC guidance, students, staff and faculty are required to wear a face mask in our on-campus buildings — when around others outside their home or living space — through Day 10.
• We strongly encourage community members to wear a face mask on campus when they are feeling sick. Voluntary face mask use helped reduce our incidence of on-campus flu infections last year.
• Interestingly, in recent days, we are observing more and more students, staff and faculty wearing face masks on our St. Louis campuses. They may be counting down to Day 10 of their infection. They may have a cold. Or the flu. Or they just don’t want to bring germs home with them to an immunocompromised loved one. Whatever the reason, we are grateful.
• We also expect face-mask-free community members who engage with a person who is wearing a face mask, to demonstrate cura personalis and put on their face mask, just as one would respect one’s personal or physical space. 

Flu Vaccination Clinics offered this fall

Beginning on Friday, September 29, we will host eight flu vaccine clinics. They will occur on our South, North and Law School campuses. Watch your email for details in the coming weeks.

 

Earlier this week, new COVID-19 vaccinations were approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. And yesterday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended to which child and adult populations the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech doses should be administered.

 

We hope to provide these newly formulated COVID vaccinations on our campuses this semester, just as we have done since the first doses were made available by emergency authorization in early 2021.

 

We will update you as soon as we know more about the timing and availability of COVID vaccines on campus.

 

However, if you are immunocompromised, or have serious health issues that could be made worse by a COVID infection, or if someone in your household could be put at serious risk by a COVID infection, please consider obtaining a new COVID vaccination as soon as they become available at local clinics.

 

Here’s a quick link to our COVID information page.

 

Finally, we wish to express our appreciation. SHC health care professionals are taking on numerous responsibilities that had been fulfilled by our now disbanded COVID Response Team, which was led by Dr. Terri Rebmann. We are grateful to the SHC team for assuming these critical duties, including outreach to the University community. Please watch for their emails.

 

And we owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Terri and our COVID Response Team colleagues, who for three intensive years demonstrated incredible dedication, resolve and selflessness while protecting the public health on our St. Louis campuses. Working together with all of you, they helped ensure that SLU remained open even during the darkest days of the pandemic.

 

Thank you for taking action to protect your health and the health of our community.

 

Stay safe and be well,

 

Sarah Cunningham, Ed.D.
Vice President of Student Development

Mickey Luna, J.D.
Vice President of Human Resources