FAQs: Health & Safety

The following Q&A’s pertain to health & safety practices in place at BU.

^indicates information provided by BME Department Chair John White but generally is applicable to all students

GENERAL

Q: If BU’s policies are inadequate or prove to be so during the semester, how quickly can BU institute new policies?

A: The Recovery Plan recognizes that if, in the unlikely event that public health officials deem it unsafe to open in the fall of 2020, then the University’s contingency plan envisions the need to consider a later in-person return, perhaps in January 2021. 

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Q: How can students/staff get quick answers to medical questions (e.g. about symptoms, etc)?

A: If, at any time, a student feels sick or experiences flu-like symptoms, or is concerned that they may have COVID-19 or are a close contact of someone who has COVID-19, the student should seek advice from Student Health Services and follow instructions on how to message a nurse through Patient Connect, or call SHS Primary Care at 617-353-3575.

If you have a medical question about COVID-19, please call Healthway at 617-353-0550. Students with compliance questions for COVID-19 testing can contact 617-353-4357 or can email healthwayhelp@bu.edu.

Source: 1, 2 

Q: Will BU be keeping a public and frequently updated dashboard of cases on campus?

A: BU’s public dashboard is online as of 8/17/20 and includes daily data on student testing, as well as cumulative data since 8/16/20. Number of tests, positive, negative, and invalid/inconclusive rates are provided, along with 7-day averages compared to Massachusetts and local counties. Average sampling time and the number of students currently in isolation is also provided. BU purports that compliance statistics will be available starting in September. No statistics or data have been provided for employee test results, availability of PPE, or occupancy levels of quarantine/isolation housing.

Please direct any questions or suggestions about data representation and visualization of the dashboard to Provost Gloria Waters at gwaters@bu.edu.

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Q: Will costs incurred by COVID-19 testing and treatment (e.g. drugs, ambulance bills, hospitalization bills, etc) be covered by BU SHIP health insurance?

A: “Yes, COVID-19 care is covered. Testing, including the physician visit/emergency department visit, will be covered at 100% with no copays, deductibles or coinsurance (in or out-of-network).  Inpatient treatment for COVID-19 related hospitalization will also be covered at 100% with no copays, deductibles or coinsurance.  Network providers should be utilized when available for care in the United States.”

^If needed, transport to and from an isolation or quarantine dorm will be free.

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Q: What threshold(s) will the university be using to shut down classes or close campus?

A: (Gloria Waters) “Metrics we will watch very closely include the number of quarantine and isolation units, as well as the number of cases. If we saw a large jump in positive cases or just had a large number of positive cases accumulate that would make us change some aspects of campus. Additionally, if there is community transfer. We are putting together a scorecard for those metrics that we think are most important and we will be setting cutoffs and thresholds that require campus to take some sort of action which could be increasing testing, scaling back classes, etc.”

(Cathie Klapperich) “The group of doctors advising Pres. Brown do have a number in mind but have not disclosed it. Massachusetts as a state is at about a 2% positivity rate right now, a 5% positivity rate has been thrown around at the state level to go back to Phase II (shutting down all businesses, but not sure if this applies to classes. However, this will cause research labs to need to de-densify.”

GWISE note: In response to whether these threshold metrics would be made public, Gloria Waters said they would “talk with leadership” to decide.

Source: 1, 2

Q: Will students and staff members be required to take mandatory safety training?

A: ^Prof. Klapperich believes that the university is building online modules but John White is not sure they have time to put together something as complete as our online Title IX training. However, returning students will be required to sign a digital agreement to adhere to specified campus guidelines.

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Q: What are the university’s plans beyond the fall?

A: ^Assuming that the testing / tracing / isolation plan works, John White believes we will continue it until we can get 70% or more of us vaccinated. Once a safe and effective vaccine is available, the university will move to vaccinate us as quickly as they can. BU has planned to test the community through June of 2021 regardless of vaccine availability.

Q: How will an eventual vaccine be made available to the community?

A: ^John White hopes that the vaccination process will be equitable, effective and efficient. If the vaccine is at first in short supply, the federal or state government may prioritize high-risk people first, such as healthcare workers, essential workers, the elderly and immune-compromised.

WORKPLACE ADJUSTMENTS

Q: Will graduate students with conditions that do not fall under the CDC high risk category (e.g. clinical mental health disorders such as OCD, parents who need childcare, etc) be approved for workplace adjustments? 

A: “Students with COVID-19 related situations, such as childcare, that do not fall within the CDC Risk Groups and who do not have a disability under the ADA may complete the workplace or research environment adjustment form and enter information about their situation in the “other“ section of the relevant form. Those requests are not being evaluated by Equal Opportunity or Human Resources; rather, they are being forwarded to the deans of the respective schools/colleges for individual consideration.”

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Q: How can we ensure that BU will not discriminate or retaliate against students/faculty who place a workplace adjustment (especially if that adjustment is denied)?

A: “All personal health information that is provided during the adjustment evaluation process will be treated confidentially and viewed only by experienced professionals in Equal Opportunity and Human Resources who customarily handle employee medical leave requests, solely for purposes of evaluating adjustment requests. Records will be maintained in a secure HIPAA-compliant environment. No personal health information will be shared with your school or college, or other academic administrators.” 

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TESTING & CONTACT TRACING

Q: What are the exact details of the testing and contact tracing policy?

A: This has been outlined here (how often, who is in what category, that there will be testing centers at various locations, results of testing within 24 hrs, contact tracing still in the works and will be the responsibility of the infected person to identify their close contacts)

GWISE note: In meetings with the administration, as well as in the Back2BU Moderated Discussions, admins have mentioned that there is currently no system set up that allows one to check their testing category however, students may receive notification of their testing category “soon”. The official line is that BU has employed the strategy of alerting individuals how often they should get tested, rather than explicitly telling us our testing category.

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Q: Will there be an app integrating symptom reporting, testing, etc?

A: No, due to privacy concerns, there is no app. Please check the Healthway site or Patient Connect to report symptoms, schedule testing, view test results, and view your campus access “Badge”.

Source: 1, 2

Q: I’ve read that testing accuracy can vary based on when it’s taken. Do you have data on false positive/negative rates for these tests depending on which day they are taken post-infection?

A: (Cathie Klapperich) This test is what is called a qPCR test, which sequences two genes at the ends of the virus. The test has greater than 95% specificity and sensitivity as is required by the FDA. We must retain this level of specificity and sensitivity since we are continually reporting to the Massachusetts Dept of Health.

False positives are very rare and would only happen because of a lab mistake, most likely due to contamination. The test is very clean and doesn’t pick up genes from other viruses, also known as low cross reactivity.

False negatives can happen for a number of reasons including: incorrect swabbing technique, viral load is too low (if a person is just beginning to get sick, has a mild case, or is recovering). The hope is that repeated testing will catch a positive person as their viral load increases if they are in the upswing of the disease. BU is keeping track of information about testing results (such as if a person tests negative one day but tests positive a few days later), as well as the viral load of tests. Unfortunately, we cannot get an accurate picture of the false negative rate until a lot of testing has been done.

A test result can also be inconclusive (now shown as “invalid” on the BU COVID dashboard), in which case you will be asked to retest. GWISE note: Time frame for this retesting has not been specified.

Source: 1, 2

Q: How confident are you that people will correctly self-swab during testing?

A: (Cathie Klapperich) You are being observed, so we don’t expect this to be an issue. If you perform the swab incorrectly, you can get another tube immediately. 

If your test comes out inconclusive or invalid you will be required to re-test.

Source: 1, 2

Q: If students arrive soon before the semester begins, how will they be tested in time for the beginning of classes?

A: ^Students who are quarantined at the beginning of classes will be required to attend courses virtually until they have cleared the testing protocol. Graduate students arriving by September 1 should have time to be tested twice before classes begin.

“If [a student is] up to date with testing and attestation [they] will receive a green-colored badge that appears on [their] mobile device. If [they] are unable to show a green badge, [they] may be asked to leave class, to rectify any issues with your testing or attestation before [their] next in-person class, and, if possible, to utilize the remote LfA option for that particular class session. [The student] should not return to that class session, and must resolve any issues [they] have with testing or attestation before attending the next in-person class.”

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Q: How will social distancing be maintained at testing sites?

A: ^Social contact during testing will be limited via an appointment system and multiple testing sites (to limit the number of people being tested at a given time), as well as well-marked areas in which to line up while remaining masked and 6 feet apart. Like everywhere else on campus, masks will be mandatory.

Q: Is it possible for the non-BU-affiliated roommates and partners of faculty and staff to be tested?

A: ^No. BU is only legally allowed to test BU-affiliated students, faculty, and staff. Our testing pool may be expanded in the future, but not necessarily to the people with whom we live.

Q: How will students or staff know if they have come into contact with an infected person? 

A: If a student tests positive for COVID-19, BU will consider their roommates and classmates. But it’s up to the student to respond to SHS and identify all of their close contacts so that they can be notified.

Contact tracing will be interview-based, not app based. If a BU community member tests positive, they will be asked to identify their 10 closest/most recent contacts (where contact is defined as being within 6ft for more than 15 mins, unless wearing an N95 respirator).

“Citing student privacy and the need to encourage cooperation with contact tracing for COVID-19, the University will not inform faculty [or graduate TFs] if students in their classes test positive for the virus…but students may disclose their own health information [if they so choose].”

Source: 1, 2, 3, 4

Q: Will instructors and TFs be informed if a student in class tests positive?

A: ^Generally, no. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) includes strict protections of health-related information for patients. In BU’s testing regime, only the healthcare workers and the patients themselves will know the identities of COVID-positive students. If an instructor or TF is identified as having been exposed by a student in class, that instructor or TF will be notified and possibly quarantined, but not given the identity of the patient. Of course, people who do test positive are allowed to self-disclose to you. Please know that this is personal health information and should not be further disclosed to others in your class or in the Community.

“BU began a contact tracing program this past spring and will expand it for the fall. BU plans to employ tracing for infections of individuals in testing categories 1 and 2. For residential students, the individuals in their immediate housing group or household will be a primary focus, as well as others with whom they have had close contact in preceding days.”

Contact tracing will be interview-based, not app based. If a BU community member tests positive, they will be asked to identify their 10 closest/most recent contacts (where contact is defined as being within 6ft for more than 15 mins, unless wearing an N95 respirator).

“Citing student privacy and the need to encourage cooperation with contact tracing for COVID-19, the University will not inform faculty [or graduate TFs] if students in their classes test positive for the virus…but students may disclose their own health information [if they so choose].”

Source: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Q: Why is the contact tracing limited to 10 people?

A: There is a limited number of contact tracers available. The interview based method is more resource-consuming than an app-based method, but an app-based method was decided against due to privacy concerns.

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Q: If a student in one’s class tests positive, what is the procedure?

A: ^That student will be isolated. Their close contacts may be quarantined in special housing units on campus if they live on campus. if they do not live on campus, they will be advised how to quarantine off campus. Others in the class [including instructors] will not be affected unless they were close contacts of that person.

GWISE note: Graduate students who live in BU rental properties will be asked to quarantine or isolate in their own BU apartments and will not be moved to additional quarantine/isolation housing.

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Q: How many layers deep does contact-tracing go? Will contacts of our contacts be advised to quarantine?

A: ^BU will be looking for up to 10 people who have been in close contact with the patient (within 6 feet for more than 15 minutes, unless wearing an N95 respirator). If those close contacts live on campus, they may be quarantined. If they do not live on campus, they will be advised how to quarantine off campus.

GWISE note: Graduate students who live in BU rental properties will be asked to quarantine or isolate in their own BU apartments and will not be moved to additional quarantine/isolation housing.

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Q: If an undergrad (or anyone else) in the lab tests positive, what will this mean for the lab?

A: ^The PI will be notified. Lab members will be advised how to deep clean the lab (which should be a procedure already in place). After the deep cleaning, research efforts may continue. If the person who tests positive believes any lab members are close contacts, those lab members will be contacted and advised. It is worth noting that procedures in place for labs should prevent close contact among lab members.

QUARANTINING & ISOLATION

Q: Where will students (undergrads in dorms or graduate students in graduate housing) be quarantined if they become infected?

A: “In the event that a student – graduate or undergraduate – living in an on-campus University student residence, tests positive, they will be moved into isolation housing on campus and have meals and supplies delivered. All residential students determined to be a close-contact of a COVID-19 positive individual, as a result of contact tracing, will be moved to designated quarantine housing on campus. Students in designated quarantine housing will have a private room and private bathroom and will have meals and supplies delivered to their units.”¹

“Should a graduate student in a BU rental apartment test COVID-19 positive, we will provide support for that student as they isolate in their apartment.”²

GWISE Note: As this information seemed contradictory, GWISE reached out to Associate Provost Daniel Kleinman for clarification and received the following distinction: Graduate students in BU-owned dorm or lodging style residences will be assigned to quarantine or isolation housing if identified as close contacts or test positive, respectively.  These students will be treated essentially like undergraduates in dorm settings. Graduate students in BU apartments who are identified as close contacts or test positive will quarantine or isolate in place within their BU-owned unit (single with private bath). BU will deliver fresh food twice weekly to graduate students who have tested positive and are isolating in place in a BU-owned residence.

Source: 1, 2, 3

Q: If you are returning to BU and entering Massachusetts from out of state, do you have to quarantine? 

A: If you are traveling from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, Hawaii, or New Jersey, you will be directed to get tested at one of the COVID-19 test collection sites on the Charles River or Medical Campuses. Based on the result of that test, you will receive subsequent instructions via the Healthway screening system.

If you are traveling from any other state or country: You’ll be directed to get tested at one of the COVID-19 test collection sites on the Charles River Campus or Medical Campus. Thereafter, you’ll practice quarantine until your first negative test result, observe instructions received via the Healthway system:

• You must limit your movement to your BU residence or your off-campus housing until your first negative test result. You may leave your residence for essential reasons, such as picking up food, medical appointments, and testing appointments.
• You are advised to stay-in-place in your BU residence or your off-campus housing until you have a total of three negative test results (two for graduate students).
• You are advised to limit your contact with others during this period (7-8 days).
• You must attend classes remotely if you are in quarantine or stay-in-place.

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Q: Is your mandatory 14-day quarantine period lifted if you receive a negative test result?

A: “You are advised to stay-in-place in your BU residence or your off-campus housing until you have a total of three negative test results (two for graduate students). You are advised to limit your contact with others during this period (7-8 days).”

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