Dear Sonoran University of Health Sciences community,
The Infectious Illness Safety Taskforce continues to monitor the impact and effectiveness of our Infectious Illness protocols. The Taskforce has updated our Infectious Illness protocol with the approval of the Executive Council. Please review and follow the updated information outlined below.
Infectious Illness Notification Protocol
All community members must stay home if they are ill and exhibiting any of the following acute infectious illness symptoms:
- Fever (>100⁰F or >38⁰C) or chills
- Cough
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Fatigue
- Muscle or body aches
- Headache
- New loss of taste or smell
- Sore throat
- Congestions or runny nose
- Nausea or vomiting
- Diarrhea
Per the Student Handbook under Attendance and Absences, on campus students must submit the Absence Request Form if they will be absent from an in-person graded assessment. If the absence is due to illness, the student should submit that information in the form.
Students present on campus with signs of infectious illness will be offered a mask and will be sent home.
Community members may return to campus when they have been fever-free for 24 hours (without the use of fever-reducing medications) and are symptom-free.
In cases of lingering symptoms, the Chief Medical Officer (Dr. Blyden-Taylor) can grant permission to return to campus if the person is no longer contagious.
Community members with non-infectious illnesses who display the symptoms above may proactively contact the Chief Medical Officer who will issue a release to return to campus.
Clinical Care Masking
All students, staff, and faculty involved in patient care are welcome to wear a mask at any time. Masking when involved in patient care is at the patient's preference and the discretion of the faculty or staff.
The Taskforce will continue to monitor incident levels of all infectious illness on campus and adjust our policies as needed. We encourage all community members to continue doing their best to ensure the safety and well-being of us all.
In summary, the changes from prior protocol include:
- A negative COVID-19 test is no longer required to return to campus. The requirement for community members to stay home for 5 days if COVID positive has been removed. Community members who meet the criteria above may return.
- Community members who tested positive for COVID are no longer required to mask for 24 hours after returning to campus.
Sincerely,
Infectious Illness Safety Taskforce