Positive Cases

Positive Cases of COVID-19

All of us should operate under the assumption that there are positive cases in Chicago and on campus; therefore, it is critical that members of our community who test positive or may have been exposed notify SAIC immediately so we can identify others who may have been exposed.
 
If you show signs or symptoms or have been notified by the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) or SAIC’s Case Management Team that you are a close contact of someone who tested positive for COVID-19, you should do the following:

• Students: Contact SAIC’s Health Services at healthservices@saic.edu or 312.499.4288, and you will be directed to the nearest clinic for additional instructions.
• Faculty and staff: Notify human resources at saic.covid.report@saic.edu and your primary care provider.

 If you test positive, you may be required to quarantine or isolate.

SAIC’s Response

Monitoring 

SAIC’s COVID-19 Monitoring Team (CMT) has been established to coordinate the collection and review of metrics related to the prevalence of COVID-19 within the SAIC community and the City of Chicago and recommend the appropriate operational changes. Dr. Terri Rebmann will consult with the group.
 
A decision to move our modified in-person courses fully online and move our operations remotely will be based on cases relative to resources, requiring monitoring of many different factors and conditions. These factors and conditions may include, but are not limited to: positivity rate of those living, learning, and working on campus; available quarantine spaces on campus; number of quarantined individuals who end up testing positive (total and seven-day rolling average); daily on-campus population; positive test rate in Chicago; and local hospital capacity. We are also closely monitoring the City of Chicago’s phase four reopening metrics, and we will make necessary adjustments if the City of Chicago or State of Illinois updates their guidance or issues new orders.

Contact Tracing

Upon notice of a positive case, SAIC’s Case Management team will conduct contact tracing. A close contact–defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as someone who was within six feet of the positive case for 15 or more minutes starting from two days before the person began feeling sick or tested positive until the time they were isolated–will receive a phone call from the Case Management Team.
 
People who had brief, casual contact with a positive case will not be notified because they are not considered to be at great risk of infection, according to the CDPH.
 
If you are identified as a close contact to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, you will be contacted directly by a contact tracer. If you are not a close contact, and you have been following general safety practices like wearing masks and social distancing, your risk is low.

Cleaning

Throughout campus, we’ve increased housekeeping and sanitation in high-usage rooms and high-traffic spaces, and for frequently touched objects, as well as in spaces like restrooms, lobbies, elevators, and cafés.
 
SAIC will determine if any spaces must be closed in the event of a potential contamination. If this happens, Instructional Resources and Facilities Management will oversee efforts to fully sanitize affected spaces before anyone is allowed to return to the space and will notify those who use the space once the process is complete.

Campus Notification

Positive cases will happen regularly, and when they do, SAIC will inform students, faculty, and staff.

• Close contacts–defined by the CDC as someone who was within six feet of the infected person for at least 15 minutes starting from two days before the person began feeling sick or tested positive until the time they were isolated–will be notified by the Case Management team.
• After a positive case is reported to SAIC and SAIC’s Case Management Team identifies and notifies the people who were in close contact with them, a campus-wide notification will be sent out with limited information about each case, noting the timeframe the individual was on campus and what facilities they visited. To protect the privacy of the individual, their identity and other details about the person or their illness will not be shared.
• A COVID-19 Case Tracker will be launched and updated every Wednesday with confirmed cases among the SAIC community, including when the individual was on campus.