Spotlight: RSM Offers 'Contact Tracing' Student Guide
Whether schools from day care facilities to universities will reopen this fall is an open question. Some have already announced they won't; the vast majority have yet to decide.
But for schools that do reopen, an effective method to separate students testing COVID-19 positive from those who don't is critical. Further, when COVID-19 students are identified, it's crucial to take the next step: contact tracing.
Chicago-based RSM has laid out a clear template that educators anywhere can use. The system requires close cooperation between school healthcare staff and parents, once students test positive. Here's how RSM's eight-step "Disease and Outbreak Management System" works.
A student arrives at an educational institution.
School employees or healthcare staff check the student in and complete a daily symptom-screening survey using a mobile device.
Temperature checks are performed and students without fever are allowed entry into the school.
For students identified as high-risk via the screenings, the contact tracing protocol begins. Students are referred to a local health professional and sent home.
A workflow case is created to gather contacts and exposure locations. This is done with a student's check-in history. Data analysis is performed to create a contact tracing map.
Case notifications and contact tracings are sent to school and county health officials. They manage communications and follow up with families.
Students sent home and their parents are asked to add daily entries to their home monitoring logs.
Students stay at home and are isolated until there is no further risk of exposure to others.
For more information, see our in-depth post below:
