College of Medicine leaders updated faculty, staff and students on Sept. 18 about the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic:
Exposure protocols
If you think you have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 or have symptoms yourself, please do not come on campus. Instead, follow this protocol:
- Medical, physician assistant and graduate students: Call Student Health at 717-531-5998.
- Student Health will provide screening and schedule a COVID screening test as needed with a short turnaround time. While awaiting results, please quarantine and alert any roommates and other close contacts.
- Postdoctoral fellows and employees: Call Employee Health at 717-531-4208.
COVID-19 Cases on Campus
We would like to thank everyone for their efforts to maintain a safe and healthy environment at the College of Medicine (COM), knowing that our response to the pandemic requires a long-term commitment. We appreciate your continued compliance with the policies we have in place.
We are maintaining our capacity level of 50% at present, and we will continue to monitor the number of cases in our county, at the COM and in Penn State Health before making any decisions about moving to the next level (phase 4, 80% capacity). We will also factor in the prevalence of asymptomatic COVID-19 infection among COM faculty, staff and students as the University begins to share those data.
We also wish to recognize the ongoing efforts of Ray Scheetz, our Pandemic Safety Officer, and the physicians, nurses and staff at our Student and Employee Health offices.
The table below summarizes the number of COVID-19 cases among our College of Medicine faculty, staff and students for this past week.
College of Medicine Statistics
Week of Sept. 14-18
- Current employees/students represents the number who have shown symptoms this week.
- Total employees/students represents the number who have been quarantined or tested positive for COVID-19 since March 2020 (for employees) or July 2020 (for students)
Flu Shots
Information ran in the Daily Brief this week on free flu shots being offered to faculty, staff and students. Please refer to the email you received on Thursday, Sept. 17. Unless there is an overriding medical reason, we strongly recommend that ALL students be vaccinated against the flu in September. Doing so will help prevent our COVID testing capabilities from being overwhelmed by those with flu symptoms.
Thermal Temperature Scan Kiosks Installed at the COM entrances
This week, thermal temperature scanners were installed at the College of Medicine main and Biomedical Research Building entrances and Academic Support Building entrance to assist in temperature checks for all employees. This is part of the systemwide rollout of thermal temperature scan kiosks. We will continue to have staffed screening stations in place at these entrances. In addition, a scanner will be installed at the University Fitness Center in the near future to assist with this effort.
All faculty, staff and students must continue to monitor themselves for COVID-19 symptoms and complete on-site temperature screening for each scheduled day of work prior to reporting to their work location.
Surveillance Testing and Contact Tracing
The College of Medicine is a partner with Penn State in its comprehensive strategy for surveillance testing of asymptomatic individuals and contact tracing, which is part of the full COVID-19 “Back to State: Health and Safety Plan. Surveillance testing of faculty, staff and students has started on those who have returned to working on campus. Approximately 1% of the faculty, staff and students at the College will be randomly selected each day, seven days a week, to participate in surveillance testing, at no cost to the individual.
Return to Work Authorization
For the College to fully participate in the University’s COVID-19 surveillance testing program, we ask your cooperation in completing the University’s Return to Work authorization form for your lab or work unit. If you have not done so already, please complete this form today. For the typical lab/work unit, completing it will take less than 15 minutes. If your lab/unit has already provided information to the University via this form, then no further action is needed. Please check with your department administrator to see if the form has already been submitted on your behalf. Our full participation in this program, along with contact tracing, will greatly mitigate the risk of infection and help provide a safe working environment at the College.
Research Update
We remain at phase 3 with a time-averaged laboratory research capacity of 50% for departments and institutes. There have been no significant changes pertaining to the ramp-up of research during the past week, but we are looking forward to increasing capacity to 80% (phase 4) in the future. Those seeking approval for animal orders should continue to contact Dr. Ron Wilson (rwilson2@pennstatehealth.psu.edu). The University form for approval for observational research has been updated to gather more information about WHY the research needs to be conducted at this time. Human subjects research also remains unchanged, and questions can be directed to Dr. Neal Thomas (nthomas@pennstatehealth.psu.edu). Finally, undergraduate and high school student on-campus internships are still suspended in order to maximize laboratory time to staff and trainees.
Laboratory staff, postdoctoral fellows and students who are COVID-positive: To assure transparency in reporting and facilitate contact tracing, it is the responsibility of lab supervisors to report suspected or documented cases of COVID infection in their research group to Dr. Chuck Lang (chl1@psu.edu) and Ray Scheetz (BioSafetyOfficer@pennstatehealth.psu.edu). Confidentiality of health information will be maintained. Lab supervisors should report any postdoctoral fellow with COVID symptoms or positive test results to Dr. Gail Thomas (gthomas4@pennstatehealth.psu.edu). Failure to report persons under investigation will be viewed as a serious violation of biosafety protocols and may result in closure of the lab.
Safety precautions in labs: A reminder to guard against complacency in maintaining safety precautions in lab. It is critical for everyone in lab to wear a type 1 procedure mask (no cloth masks) and maintain at least 6 feet of physical distance between workers. This keeps everyone safe and will minimize viral spread if someone in the lab becomes infected. Even if you are the only person in the lab, please wear a mask to prevent possible contamination. Failure of individuals or groups to follow safety guidance may have their lab activities reduced preemptively for noncompliance.
Education Update
Graduate studies: Course instruction for all graduate students has been ongoing for three weeks. Depending on the class, instruction is being offered in person, remotely or a hybrid of both. For in-person classes, the attendance has been excellent and the instructor-student exchanges have been robust. Faculty are able to select the mode of instruction and should be communicating this clearly prior to their lectures. In-person courses will also offer a synchronous remote (Zoom) option so vulnerable student populations and students who feel ill will not be pressured to attend in-person classes.
The Office of Graduate Studies has worked with the Pandemic Response Team at the College to provide a safe laboratory environment, and there is the expectation that all upper-level graduate students have ramped up their in-person research activities to near pre-pandemic levels. Students who are having difficulty getting back in the lab should contact their program director or Dr. Lang (chl1@psu.edu). Some first-year students have found it difficult to arrange lab rotations, but we hope this situation will resolve in the future when we transition from phase 3 to phase 4.
Medical Students’ and Physician Assistant Students’ Education: To assure effective reporting of symptoms and facilitate contact tracing when needed, we want to remind all medical and PA students how to report any symptoms or concerns about COVID-19 exposure. Medical and PA students in the pre-clerkship/classroom phase of their curriculum should immediately contact Student Health at 717-531-5998 to report their symptoms or their concerns about a possible exposure. Medical and PA students in clerkships and clinical rotations who think they had a possible exposure should immediately contact Student Health and their faculty attending. Student Health will add them to the List of Possible Exposures used by Infection Prevention to monitor who has had exposure to a COVID+ person. Infection prevention will interview the student and determine subsequent actions. Medical and PA students in clerkships and clinical rotations who are having symptoms themselves should contact Student Health immediately at 717-531-5998. The students should, in addition, immediately contact the Office of Student Affairs.
All students, whether in COM buildings or outside their own residences, should wear masks and adhere to hand hygiene and social distancing.
Student organizations requesting approval for an activity or an event should contact Dr. Manny Williams (ewilliams33@pennstatehealth.psu.edu) in the Office of Student Affairs, who will provide an activity description form and criteria that must be met for approval.
The interview season is open. For the PA program, virtual interviews of applicants began on Sept. 14. For the MD program, virtual interviews start on Sept. 28.
Additional News & Information
IRS Allows Benefits Changes in Response to COVID-19
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IRS recently issued Notice 2020-29. This information was shared previously in Penn State Today, but as a reminder employees who may want to make allowable changes, please refer to the email from Jill Curry in COM Human Resources sent Friday, Sept. 18.
University Fitness Center open to employees, spouses and family members
The University Fitness Center (UFC) moved to the next level in capacity by allowing spouses and family members to also use the facilities. Hershey campus employees and their family members as well as students are eligible to return during phase 2. The center will maintain the current hours of operation, Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Visit times are restricted to a maximum of 75 minutes. For additional information, please visit the UFC website.
Harrell Health Sciences Library available 24/7 with badge access
The Harrell Health Sciences Library at the College of Medicine is open to faculty, staff and students. The library will be available 24/7 via badge access to all students, faculty and staff. Visitors are still prohibited. Library staff will be available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Capacity remains at 50%, and all other safety guidelines still apply.