Dartmouth has asked its community members for their assistance in observing COVID-19 health and safety guidelines in advance of next week’s arrival of just under half of the undergraduate student body.
“We know this remains a challenging time and we thank you for doing your part to help protect our community,” wrote COVID-19 task force co-chairs Lisa Adams and Josh Keniston in an email today to faculty, students, and staff.
They recapped guidelines on face coverings—wear them indoors and out unless you are alone in a private space—and physical distancing measures—stay at least 6 feet from others at all times.
They also wrote about the COVID-19 dashboard, which went live on the Dartmouth COVID-19 website this week. The dashboard is a chart, updated Mondays and Thursdays, that lists the number of people in the Dartmouth community who have been tested for the virus, how many were found to have the virus, and how many people are in isolation and/or quarantine.
As of today, the dashboard shows that 1,454 people have been tested; there have been no confirmed cases, one person is in quarantine and three people are self-isolating. People isolate themselves when they have COVID-19 symptoms and are awaiting test results or have tested positive and may or may not have symptoms. People are in quarantine due to travel or when they do not have virus symptoms and have not tested positive but are identified as close contacts of someone who has tested positive.
In addition to the numbers on the dashboard, nearly 1,000 incoming undergraduates have completed pre-arrival testing. One student has tested positive and has been asked to isolate at home.
The state of New Hampshire also maintains a dashboard of cases in K-12 schools and colleges and universities in the state.
Keniston and Adams reminded community members that people must quarantine for 14 days if they have traveled outside New England, even if they test negative for the virus before the 14-day period is up. In addition, those in quarantine are not allowed on campus property during the quarantine period.
Those concerned about violations of Dartmouth’s COVID-19 policies can fill out a form to express their concerns to the Office of Community Standards and Accountability, which will pass the concerns on to those best able to address them.
Finally, Keniston and Adams reported that testing of employees who are working on-site began on Wednesday and will continue through September, and then through fall term for ongoing surveillance testing. Faculty and staff who have been identified as needing to work on campus during fall term will be notified by email to schedule their tests.
For the most recent information on Dartmouth’s response to the pandemic, visit the COVID-19 website.
Susan Boutwell can be reached at susan.j.boutwell@dartmouth.edu.
