Monitoring and Testing

  • Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine doctor's coat

Monitoring and Testing

Monitoring and Testing: Keeping Rowan Healthy and Safe

Everyday life on Rowan University’s campuses is dynamic, interactive, collaborative and social. While this culture makes possible the transformative experience that is integral to our community, the health and safety of our Rowan community is our top priority. To reduce the risk of COVID-19 threats within and around Rowan, we must continue to follow safety protocols for the foreseeable future.

Central to the policies for keeping Rowan healthy and safe is our commitment to protect the most vulnerable among us, including individuals over the age of 60 and anyone with chronic medical conditions including heart or lung disease, diabetes, compromised immunity, severe obesity, chronic kidney or liver disease. Because COVID-19 threatens all in our community to some degree, everyone benefits as we help ensure that the most vulnerable may work and learn by reducing their exposure risk.

Monitoring

Daily Screening
Regardless of whether they are on campus or working remotely, students and employees are required to complete a Daily Screening application before they can access the Rowan network. The Daily Screening application arrives each day via email. 

Attendance
Individuals responsible for groups of employees or students at events, like classroom lectures, meetings and other gatherings must document attendance. This can be done through digital tracking in ProfLink, Banner or by spreadsheet to allow contact tracing, if needed.

Sick Notification
Employees must notify Human Resources of illness or suspected COVID-19 infection and report symptoms through the Self-Reported Symptom Assessment described above or another method to be determined. Fever is the most common symptom of COVID-19, but it could also indicate another illness, especially as seasonal diseases like the flu emerge. It is critical for symptomatic individuals to avoid all face-to-face interactions and public gatherings regardless of social distancing practices.

Return to Work Following Illness

  • Employees who are clinically diagnosed with COVID-19 or receive a positive test result for it must remain isolated based on the recommendations from their health care provider, public health official or until three full symptom-free days have passed, whichever is longer.

  • Employees who report symptoms without a known exposure to COVID-19 must be 24 hours symptom-free before returning to work.

  • All employees must communicate their cleared status to Human Resources and receive guidance prior to returning.

Testing, Investigation and Isolation

Testing
Because universal, frequent testing for all is not practical, not based in science and not feasible in terms of available resources, Rowan uses different testing strategies.

  • For Spring 2021: Any Rowan student who will be on campus in any capacity—whether as a residential student, as a student in an in-person class, lab or studio setting, as an athlete, or as a participant in on-campus activities—is required to provide a negative COVID-19 test result within 10 days before their first day on campus. Free at-home test kits are available to students.
  • Symptomatic testing: Testing for symptomatic students is available from the Wellness Center on the Glassboro campus. Employees with COVID-19 symptoms will be recommended for testing through either the individual’s health care provider or RowanMedicine. In partnership with Rowan Medicine, employees can also be screened via telehealth visit and be prescribed for testing which can be scheduled for collection by the Wellness Center in Glassboro.
  • Asymptomatic sentinel testing: This free saliva testing is available for asymptomatic non-residential students and Rowan employees every Tuesday and Thursday at the Rec Center in Glassboro. Students and employees can sign up via Eventbrite.
  • Antibody testing: This assessment is not recommended as a strategy to guide return to work/school decisions, however, we will continue to review emerging guidance. If recommendations change, we will bring antibody collection resources to campus to support testing students and staff.
  • Wastewater testing in residential facilities begins in Spring 2021. Wastewater testing is not individualized, but will help determine if viral load is detected in a target population.

Contact Investigation

  • Through a collaboration with the Gloucester County Health Department, the Wellness Center trained contact tracers to conduct assessments throughout our campuses to help Wellness Center health care professionals make public health recommendations for students and employees.

  • It is critical that students and employees participate in any investigation so we can rapidly isolate ill individuals and quarantine close contacts.

  • To report a positive COVID-19 case, call the Wellness Center at 856-256-4333.

Isolation for Employees and Students

  • On campus, Triad Hall, which has 218 beds, serves as isolation housing for symptomatic students who are not able to return home. The coordination of isolation is initiated by the contact investigation and is be supported by Residential Learning and Housing, the Dean of Students Office, the Wellness Center and Gourmet Dining.

  • Employees will be required to isolate in their homes and follow return to work protocols.

As we anticipate welcoming the Rowan community back to our campuses and resuming activity, we will continue to provide information to provide guidance and update everyone throughout what may be a months-long process. We appreciate everyone’s continued flexibility and support. We expect that the fall semester will bring normalcy back to our campus community.

Transporting Sick Students to Essential Appointments
Following standard student wellness policies, Rowan will continue to provide transportation services for residential students to essential appointments via University EMS and Public Safety.

Use of Face Coverings

Wear your mask, please.

Employees and students are required to wear face coverings in all indoor public/shared areas, including, but not limited to: office common areas, hallways, restrooms, kitchens, elevators, stairwells, cafeterias, etc. Masks are not required in private offices or residence hall rooms.

While there are on-going discussions with regard to which materials are most effective, current data suggests that acceptable options include: bandanas, neck gaiters, homemade face coverings, scarves, and tightly woven fabrics. It is important to note that these face coverings/masks are intended to protect others from the wearer’s respiratory droplets, not protect the wearer from being exposed to the virus.

The safety and well-being of the University community is of the utmost importance, and we will continue to dedicate unified efforts to reduce the likelihood of transmission of COVID-19. If you have any questions, please email the Environmental Health and Safety Department at EHS@rowan.edu.

Employee and student responsibilities

  • Students are required to supply their own face covering/mask. The University, however, can provide students with one cloth mask. Residential students will receive theirs upon check-in and commuter students can pick up theirs at the dean of Students Office in Savitz Hall.

  • Employees will be supplied one cloth mask upon their return to campus. They are responsible for cleaning of their own masks. Depending on the type of work employees are engaged in, they will receive the appropriate OSHA-required mask for that setting.

Back-up masks
The University purchased a supply of disposable masks to share with individuals who forgot or lost their mask on a particular day. Each building has a designated office where disposable masks can be requested.

Employees who forget their masks will be supplied with a reusable plastic mask designed by the College of Engineering. It is designed for easy cleaning (soap and water), however, the filter will need to be changed periodically. Instructions for cleaning and changing of the filter come with the mask.

Overview of the Daily Screening Process

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to aid in our "Return to Rowan" efforts, Rowan University instituted a Daily Screening application to collect baseline information on the wellness of the community.

In order to enable all members of the Rowan University community to provide this information, we leveraged the “CAS” system, a single sign-on system, for users to provide information through a stand-alone web application. CAS offers the ability to interrupt the log-in process and present an Acknowledgment Prompt, informing the user that they will need to follow up with a process in order to continue.  

Overview of the User Experience

The Daily Screening web application presents two basic questions to a user:

  • Do you have a fever of 100.4ºF or greater?
  • Do you have any of the following symptoms: shortness of breath, cough, chills, muscle pain, loss of taste or smell or headache?

The user then provides the feedback, where it is stored anonymously & securely within our database. If the user responds positively to either question, a notification will appear for the user advising them of the next steps: contacting the Wellness Center, RowanSOM, or other reporting as determined. 

To encourage daily submission of wellness information, the CAS single sign-on platform (login.rowan.edu) is used to remind users to submit a daily update. CAS is used as the point of authentication for many of our web-based services.

For an individual accessing a CAS-authenticated service, they will attempt to log into the service. CAS will check to see if a daily wellness update has been completed. If the user has not yet completed the daily screening form, they will be temporarily stopped and asked to visit the Daily Screening application. After completing the Daily Screening form, they will be redirected back to CAS and will be able to continue to log in to the requested service. The Daily Screening acknowledgement prompt will only appear if the individual has not entered the form that day. Individuals will not be required to fill out the form multiple times within the same day if logging into different services. 

The Daily Screening application will store information in two forms: a Daily Screening receipt that will be associated with the individual and will allow them to continue with the log-in process, and a record of the responses disassociated from the individual. In aggregate, the responses are used for a health trends dashboard for use by the Wellness Center and RowanSOM.


Health and Wellness FAQs

I don’t feel well. What should I do?

During cold and flu season, do not make assumptions. The virus has similar symptoms. If you feel unwell, contact your primary care provider and then notify the Wellness Center at 856-256-4333 for guidance.

Students: If you have to miss assignments due to illness, please report your absence to your professor, and to the Dean of Students at go.rowan.edu/absence.

Employees: If you need to miss work due to your or an immediate family member's possible exposure to or diagnosis with COVID-19, please contact Human Resources at HR@rowan.edu within three days of your initial absence and provide the proper documentation. You will not need to use accumulated leave time. If you need to miss work due to a non-COVID-19 illness, you will need to use accumulated leave time.

This is all making me feel anxious. How can I cope?

Stress and anxiety are normal reactions when there is an infectious disease outbreak. It’s important to monitor your own physical and mental health. Know the signs of stress, how to relieve stress and when to seek help. If you need assistance, call the Wellness Center at 856-256-4333.

If I have questions and would like to speak with someone, who should I call?

  • Faculty: Contact the Office of the Provost at 856-256-4108.
  • Students: Glassboro campus students should contact the Dean of Students at 856-256-4283. CMSRU, SOM and GSBS students should contact the offices of their respective deans.
  • Wellness Center: 856-256-4333
  • Visit rowan.edu/virusinfo

Where can I get more information on coronavirus?

I have more questions. Where should I go?

Visit our Return to Rowan Frequently Asked Questions and Answers page for more information about academics, financial aid and finances, student life and housing, health and wellness, and visiting campus.