Written by Lesieli Heimuli and Maria Jose Moran
According to Southern’s website, as of Aug. 31, there are currently five active and two resolved COVID-19 cases. The active cases consist of one employee and four students.
With the new school year and in-person classes, Southern has set new protocols and procedures that need to be followed. These include filling out a health assessment, getting one’s temperature checked at a health screen station and receiving a colored-coded bracelet that must be worn daily in order to enter buildings on campus. These protocols are required for current students, employees and guests.
The options for screening include either drive-thru or walk-up stations, along with students-only locations, which are located in each dorm. The health screeners, who are current students, work different shifts between 6:15 a.m and 6:30 p.m.
Senior biology major Elise Watts has been working as a health screener since the summer. According to Watts, it is hard for some people to remember or even know that they have to take a survey before screeners can take their temperatures.
“There are some people who still don’t do the survey and will come through,” Watts said. She also explained how she’s run into circumstances where guests refuse to take the survey, mainly contractors. “I learn[ed] how to play the situation, especially with people who have been disgruntled. They can be a little belligerent at times, but for the most part, everybody has been great.”
However, it can also be hard for some students to remember to get their temperatures taken.
“Usually everybody knows, but it’s like two or three [people] who forget,” said Jem Adalbai, a junior pre-nutrition and dietetics major and current health assessor.
Students, however, expressed different opinions about screenings.
“I think it is a good safety precaution,” said junior physical therapy major Erin Belgrave. “It may be a struggle to remember some days, but I am okay with it.”
For students who have a hard time remembering to get their bands in the morning, health screeners have been assigned to work from 9:30 to 11:30 p.m in both residential halls.
According to Southern’s website, as of Aug. 31, there are currently five active and two resolved COVID-19 cases. The active cases consist of one employee and four students.
With the new school year and in-person classes, Southern has set new protocols and procedures that need to be followed. These include filling out a health assessment, getting one’s temperature checked at a health screen station and receiving a colored-coded bracelet that must be worn daily in order to enter buildings on campus. These protocols are required for current students, employees and guests.
The options for screening include either drive-thru or walk-up stations, along with students-only locations, which are located in each dorm. The health screeners, who are current students, work different shifts between 6:15 a.m and 6:30 p.m.
Senior biology major Elise Watts has been working as a health screener since the summer. According to Watts, it is hard for some people to remember or even know that they have to take a survey before screeners can take their temperatures.
“There are some people who still don’t do the survey and will come through,” Watts said. She also explained how she’s run into circumstances where guests refuse to take the survey, mainly contractors. “I learn[ed] how to play the situation, especially with people who have been disgruntled. They can be a little belligerent at times, but for the most part, everybody has been great.”
However, it can also be hard for some students to remember to get their temperatures taken.
“Usually everybody knows, but it’s like two or three [people] who forget,” said Jem Adalbai, a junior pre-nutrition and dietetics major and current health assessor.
Students, however, expressed different opinions about screenings.
“I think it is a good safety precaution,” said junior physical therapy major Erin Belgrave. “It may be a struggle to remember some days, but I am okay with it.”
For students who have a hard time remembering to get their bands in the morning, health screeners have been assigned to work from 9:30 to 11:30 p.m in both residential halls.
“I think the idea of it [is] good,” said junior health science major Tyra Castle. “But in reality I think everyone just presses ‘no’ regardless if they have symptoms or not. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s doing much besides temperatures, and we need to do more than that.”
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What do these terms mean?
To clarify how the cases are handled, Southern explained different terminology related to COVID-19. The main terms are separated into four categories and defined as:
Active cases – “individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 and are now in isolation.”
Resolved cases – “individuals who had tested positive after the beginning of Fall 2020 semester and have since recovered and been medically cleared.”
Quarantine – “a person is separating away from others because medical personnel have determined there is a possibility that the individual is infected.”
Isolation – “A person is separating away from others because they have tested positive for COVID-19.”
