Faculty Support: Health Corps
The following message was sent to all faculty on Wednesday, September 15, 2021.
Dear Colleagues,
UK Health Corps asked me to pass along the following information to you. Please take note of the following reminders.
Robert S. DiPaola, M.D.
Dear Faculty,
Thank you for the role you play in facilitating a robust in-person experience in the safest way possible. We believe that face-to-face interaction with faculty and engagement with our broader community is a key part of what makes a University of Kentucky education. UK Health Corps is committed to supporting you as you conduct this important work.
We have received several questions from faculty members on our campus over the past month. We hope that these reminders serve to answer many of those questions.
Please note the following:
- Please direct all COVID-19-related questions to UK Health Corps by calling 859-218-SAFE (7233) or emailing healthcorps@uky.edu.
- Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), vaccinated individuals will not be required to quarantine or participate in contact tracing unless they test positive for COVID-19 or develop symptoms. However, all contact tracing protocols will remain in place for individuals who are not vaccinated.
- If an employee needs to isolate or self-quarantine, they should work with their supervisor to think creatively and determine if remote work is possible. HR Employee Relations can be reached at 859-257-8758 to help identify remote work or leave options. Any employee who is sick and unable to work, regardless of whether it is related to COVID-19, should use sick leave (TDL).
- Remember what you can and cannot do/ask, in accordance with privacy protections:
- Do not ask an individual their vaccination status.
- Do not ask for documentation of COVID-19 illness for an excused absence beyond what the student provides from UK Health Corps.
- Do not notify your class when someone tests positive. Health Corps will notify high exposure contacts during the contact tracing process.
- Do call or email UK Health Corps if you have questions about a specific excuse.
- Do enforce compliance with the campus mask policy in your classrooms.
- Do report any student violations of university policy to the Office of Student Conduct.
- Do feel empowered to ask a student to leave the classroom if they refuse to wear a mask.
- Do contact Mary Vosevich to request personal protective equipment in specific spaces at mary.vosevich@uky.edu.
- Do treat all individuals with respect, regardless of vaccination status.
- Please view our Fall 2021 Guidebook for a more in-depth information on our COVID-19 policies, including how we manage isolation and quarantine orders.
COVID-19 Dashboard
Over the past several weeks, we’ve received questions related to the data published on the COVID-19 dashboard. We appreciate the feedback and want to offer some insight into our processes in gathering data.
The last day to add a class for the fall 2021 semester has now passed, meaning that student schedules have stabilized with respect to modality. Additionally, employees were encouraged to submit remote work requests over the past several months if they qualified for remote work. As such, (and consistent with past semesters) numbers associated with the “UK community total” on our dashboard reflect information specific to individuals who are physically coming to the UK Lexington campus. These data also are deduplicated across faculty, staff and students.
We have begun limiting the breakdowns in a similar manner, meaning that numbers describing subpopulations, similar to the total UK population, do not include individuals not coming to campus.
You can learn more about how these populations are defined and how data are deduplicated on the COVID dashboard.
Mandatory Weekly Testing: Unvaccinated Students
The university recently announced a weekly testing policy applicable to all unvaccinated students. We are communicating with them regularly regarding their requirements and compliance. We encourage you to reinforce this information, broadly, to your students as well. This is another way we are committed to keeping our campus as safe as possible.
Mandatory Weekly Testing: Unvaccinated Employees
The university also announced a mandatory weekly testing policy for all unvaccinated employees. Employees can find more information abouttesting requirements, locations and hours of operation here . We will also be communicating with employees a vaccine incentive program soon. Prizes will include an extra week of vacation; free parking and meal plans; and monetary incentives among others. If you have any questions, please call us at 859-218-SAFE (7233) or email us at healthcorps@uky.edu.
As a general reminder, our self-report tool is available to anyone needing to upload proof of vaccines or test results. After individuals are fully vaccinated (14 days after completing vaccination regimen), they will no longer be required to complete ongoing COVID-19 testing.
Finally, we want to stress that Health Corps is here to support all members of the UK community, regardless of vaccination status. Our hours of operations are as follows:
Monday - Friday: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Thank you for doing your part in keeping our community healthy and safe.
UK Health Corps
859-218-SAFE (7233)