By Max Davis ’24, Staff Writer
The first coronavirus on St. John Fisher College campus has been confirmed. As only the second full week of classes winds down, Fisher students, faculty, and staff received an email on Thursday informing them of the first case.
The email simply stated “the individual is isolating off campus,” and “will continue to follow all county and college protocols.” According to the email, contact tracing had begun in order to find anyone who was closer than six feet to the individual, had contact with them for 10 minutes or longer, and said contact was within 48 hours of the positive test result.
“Per College policy, if a student tests positive, the College’s care coordinators, Health and Wellness Center, Center for Career and Academic Planning, and Rochester Regional Health System will provide support depending upon the student’s needs throughout the duration of the isolation period,” the statement from the school reads.
A link to the COVID-19 Impact page was also included in the email which will track case numbers in the campus’s population, and will track the operational level of the college.
Conducting COVID-19 nasal swab or saliva screenings before entering campus was not mandated by the school. Saliva screenings started after the monitoring team found trace amounts of COVID-19 in wastewater samples conducted at the four residential areas. A positive saliva sample, or contact with a nasal swab diagnosed case warrants off campus quarantine, and further testing.
