Update on the Health and Safety of the Community

To our campus community,

The following is an update on the health and safety of the community.

We currently have no community members with active COVID-19. We have one student in quarantine.

The first week of rapid testing at our on-campus CVS site was successful. Thank you to those who, unfortunately, waited a long time on Monday and Tuesday, and to those who worked through sign-up glitches. Despite some administrative hiccups — which have been resolved — we have been able to achieve our goal of testing approximately 60 students and employees per day. In addition to our asymptomatic surveillance, we have been able to include a few community members who reported feeling ill and were added to the testing schedule last minute. This eliminated the need to quarantine ill students and thus reduced the drain on campus resources. It also decreased the stress level of those individuals and their close contacts.

Please note that the Allegheny College COVID-19 dashboard results will lag by one to two days. CVS does internal vetting of results, so they report final numbers approximately 24 hours later. We also have to account for the human factor, as only Dr. Gabrielle Morrow has access to test results. If she is providing direct patient care or counseling persons diagnosed with COVID-19 and their families, the results may be delayed a short time longer. The ACHA aims for full transparency, so if you have a question or concern about the results or the dashboard updates, please send us an email at healthagency@allegheny.edu.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health is asking all state residents, including college students, to download the new COVID Alert PA mobile app. The app provides alerts for potential exposures to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and advice for what to do if you have a potential exposure to COVID-19. The College is not requiring individuals to download the app, but we encourage everyone to sign up for this powerful new tool that can be used to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Thanks to your efforts, we are now living and learning in person for the fifth week in a row! This is due to YOUR commitment to safety. Thank you to everyone in our campus community for all you are doing. Allegheny Strong!

The team at the Allegheny College Health Agency