COVID-19 Updates September 2, 2021

COVID-19 Campus Exposure Procedure: September 2, 2021

If you have had:

Contact of less than 6 feet for 15 minutes or longer with an individual who has symptoms
Contact with an individual who has tested positive for COVID-19 (laboratory-confirmed) but has not had any symptoms

What to do:

Report exposure to your instructor (if you are a student) or to your supervisor (if you are an employee) immediately.
The CDC guidelines recommend that you isolate yourself from all other people, including those in your household.
Contact your healthcare provider or the health department in the county in which you live for evaluation and testing.
Do not come back to campus for 14 days from the date of exposure, after which you may return to campus as long as you do not develop symptoms or have a positive test result.
Alternative Quarantine Period: 7 days of quarantine have been completed AND no symptoms have been reported during daily monitoring AND a diagnostic specimen tests negative within 48 hours of the planned quarantine discontinuation (no earlier than day 5 after last contact).

Quarantine Exception: Return to campus if you have been fully vaccinated (i.e., at least 2 weeks after getting their second dose in a 2-dose series or one-dose of a single-dose series) and do not have symptoms OR have had the virus within the past 3 months and do not have symptoms. After an exposure of COVID-19, fully vaccinated individuals should get tested 3-5 days after exposure and wear a mask around others until you get a negative test result.

If you have:

Been tested for COVID-19 by a healthcare professional and received a positive diagnosis but are currently not experiencing symptoms

What to do:

Report diagnosis to your instructor (if you are a student) or to your supervisor (if you are an employee) immediately.
The CDC guidelines recommend that you isolate yourself from all other people, including those in your household.
Follow your healthcare provider’s directions for follow-up testing and CDC guidelines for monitoring your symptoms. (Monitoring includes watching for symptoms and checking your temperature every twelve hours)
Do not come back to campus for 10 days following your diagnosis and healthcare provider’s directions for follow-up testing, after which you may return to campus as long as you do not have any symptoms.

If you have:

Been tested for COVID-19 by a healthcare professional and received a positive diagnosis and are currently experiencing symptoms

What to do:

Report diagnosis to your instructor (if you are a student) or to your supervisor (if you are an employee) immediately.
CDC guidelines recommend that you isolate yourself from all other people, including those in your household.
Follow your healthcare provider’s directions for treatment of your symptoms.
Stay away from campus until:

You have gone three days with no fever without using fever-reducing medication during that time,
Your respiratory symptoms have improved, AND
It has been at least 10 days since symptoms first appeared.

If you have:

Been tested for COVID-19 by a healthcare professional and received a negative diagnosis and are currently experiencing symptoms

What to do:

Report symptoms to your instructor (if you are a student) or to your supervisor (if you are an employee) immediately.
Stay away from campus until your symptoms have improved and you are symptom free for 48 hours.

Students and employees will immediately notify their Instructors or supervisors. The instructor or supervisor will then follow the COVID-19 Campus Exposure Reporting Requirements process for reporting to NCC’s COVID Response.
Within 48 hours, NCC’s COVID Response will communicate with executive leadership and initiate communication to any potentially impacted college community members, maintaining appropriate confidentiality, while ensuring any college student or employee who may have potentially been exposed is promptly notified so that they can self-monitor.
Individuals who initiated the response may be asked to assist with contact tracing. This information will be tracked separately from personnel and student records, and names will not be released.
The college may elect to close an impacted classroom or office for a period up to 72 hours following a confirmed case to allow for natural deactivation of the virus.
You may be asked to provide documentation from your healthcare provider that you are cleared to return to school or work.
NC Division of Public Health recommends the following definition for reporting clusters of COVID-19 in workplace, educational, and other community settings. A cluster is defined as a minimum of five cases with illness onsets or initial positive results within a 14-day period AND plausible epidemiologic linkage between cases.