UAF adopts new contact tracing procedure

August 18, 2020

Tori Tragis

UAF has adopted a new contact tracing procedure aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19 at its campuses. 

The term “contact tracing” refers to the process of identifying people who were in contact with a person who has COVID-19. It’s a powerful tool for preventing the spread of COVID-19 because it helps quickly identify people who may have been exposed to the virus. Those people can, in turn, quarantine themselves before they are able to infect others. 

Multiple UAF employees are currently being trained as contact tracers. Once their training is complete, they will respond when an employee, student, visitor or contractor at UAF has COVID-19; has a fever, cough, or shortness of breath; or has been identified as a “person under investigation” by public health officials. 

The contact tracing process starts when someone reports that they fall into one of those categories and have been in a UAF building within the past 48 hours. The UAF employee reporting form and student reporting form are the best way to make that report. Information from other sources, such as supervisors or departmental staff might also prompt contact tracing. 

Once that happens, the university will contact public health officials to see whether they are able to respond quickly. If so, public health will do the contact tracing. If not, UAF contact tracers will do that work, which involves three steps: 

Investigation

Contact tracers will gather information from the person about their activities and interactions with others during the time they may have been contagious and find out whether they adhered to prevention measures like wearing a face covering. Members of the university community can help make contact tracing more effective by minimizing the number of people they interact with, avoiding large groups of people and keeping track of the places they go throughout the day.

Informing close contacts

Contact tracers will then inform anyone who is deemed a close contact of the person, while making every effort to protect the person’s privacy. The term “close contact” means someone who has been within 6 feet of a person with COVID-19 or COVID-19 symptoms for 15 minutes or more. Close contacts will be required to self-quarantine for 14 days.

The university will not normally issue campuswide notifications of individual cases. However, if the contact tracer is unable to determine who may have been exposed to the virus, the university may issue a public message informing people of possible exposure at a specific location, date and time

Follow-up recommendations

Contact tracers will also make recommendations for disinfection of university facilities. 

The UAF contact tracing procedure is posted on the UAF COVID-19 website.