The Wheel publishes updates every Saturday about coronavirus spread within the Emory community, the University’s COVID-19 testing strategy and other related information. The Wheel also tracks on campus cases daily, which can be viewed on our homepage.
The University recorded 259 new COVID-19 cases among students, faculty and staff between Dec. 16 and Jan. 21. Since students began moving back into residence halls on Jan. 22, the University has recorded 35 new cases.
Of these latest 35 cases, 16 were off-campus students and one was an off-campus staff member.
The 10 on-campus staff cases were reported in the Carter Presidential Center, the School of Medicine, 1762 Clifton Road, Whitehead Research Building, the Grace Crum Rollins Building, the Schwartz Center, Facilities Management Building F, the Psychology and Interdisciplinary Sciences Building and Yerkes National Primate Research Center. The eight on-campus student cases were reported in Harris Hall, Clairmont Undergraduate Residential Center, Alabama Hall, Woodruff Residential Center and Raoul Hall.
Executive Director of Emory University Student Health Services Sharon Rabinovitz declined to provide the specific number of quarantined and isolated at the Emory Conference Center Hotel from the previous semester.
Gathering risk meter moves closer to red
Emory announced that its “gathering risk meter,” which was at an orange risk level by the end of the fall, has shifted closer to red, in a Jan. 19 student-wide email.
According to Associate Vice President and Executive Director for COVID-19 Response and Recovery Amir St. Clair, several factors, including “community prevalence, hospitalization rates, ICU capacity [and] student infection rates” were considered in the decision to increase the risk level.
Emory never reached a red operating status in the fall. The current indication means students should be more “mindful of the environment,” St. Clair said.
“We’re not there yet, but we’re getting close, and so we need to change our behavior and adjust some of our restrictions to make sure we don’t get to that red,” he explained.
Under the new operating status, in-person offices, classes and labs will continue to be in-person. Outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people are allowed as long as faculty or staff members are present. All recreation centers will be closed and indoor gatherings of any size will not be allowed until Feb. 8.
University increases weekly testing capacity
The University has expanded the number of testing locations and the hours available for appointments. In the spring, students will be able to get tested Monday through Friday at the Woodruff Physical Education Center, the Emory Conference Center Hotel (ECCH), the Student Activity and Academic Center at Clairmont Campus and the Whatcoat Street Building at Oxford.
All weekly screening tests will use a saliva-based method, which produces results in up to 48 hours. Because of the delay, contact tracers will collect information on contacts for the two days prior to the test, as well as the time between the test and the positive result.
“Once we have the positive result, the process on our end has not changed,” Rabinovitz said. “So there’s still going to be a very quick turnaround to contact the student [who is] the index case and subsequent contacts.”
Emory Student Health Services will also hire more contact tracers for the spring, Rabinovitz said.
Unlike the fall, students who are asked to quarantine will only stay in the ECCH for 10 days instead of 14, assuming they are not symptomatic and did not test positive on either the first or eighth day of their quarantine.
Emory is working on a building clearance system to ensure compliance with COVID-related policies and guidelines. Previously, the Emory Forward website displayed information on a passport system that would be implemented in February, but this has since been removed.
According to Rabinovitz, the new system, which will apply to both on and off-campus students, will be about “moving the compliance process in a very transparent, consistent and concise way.”
