TO: All employees
FR: Tyson Hill, Associate Vice President for Risk Management and Safety Services
Beginning today, February 21, the COVID Monitoring and Compliance Team is changing how we notify our campus community of COVID-19 cases on campus. Sonoma State University is changing the notification process in order to provide a single online location where information regarding potential COVID exposures is located. Our team has had many conversations with campus community members who have felt overwhelmed and concerned by the number of COVID-related emails and notifications sent out by our office. By making this change in reporting methodology, we hope this alleviates some of those concerns and provides a singular resource for community members who wish to have constant access to this information.
Moving forward, our office will no longer issue campus-wide emails detailing information about on-campus COVID-19 cases. These cases will instead be posted to the COVID-19 Case Information website and a message will go out that states “Sonoma State University has been notified of a COVID-19 positive case on-campus. Information about this case, cleaning protocols, and other relevant information can be found on the COVID-19 Case Information website.”
Pursuant to Labor Code section 6409.6, Risk Management and Safety Services will continue to send a notification to all employees through a listserv alerting employees of the case on campus. The new message will direct employees to an online dashboard listing the date, approximate time, and locations visited by someone who tests positive for COVID-19.
This change in how COVID-19 cases are communicated does not change the contact tracing process for the COVID Monitoring and Compliance Team. ALL close contacts and individuals who attend class with a COVID-19 positive individual will continue to be individually notified by the COVID Monitoring Team about the exposure and what steps are required or recommended.
This COVID-19 Case Information website will maintain 90 days worth of case information, beginning January 1, 2022. Updates will be made to the site and employees will be notified within one business day of SSU becoming aware of a positive on-campus case, as has been done since the start of the pandemic and as required by CalOSHA.
I want to share my deepest gratitude for all you have done to keep our Seawolf community safe during this pandemic. As we enter this next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, our office hopes this procedural change will help provide more make COVID-19 case information more readily available to our campus community.
If you have any questions about this change or the contact tracing process, please email covid.monitoring@sonoma.edu.
Stay safe and well, seawolves.