School of Public Health program performs COVID-19 contact tracing

Effective Monday, Aug. 31, the UIC Contact Tracing and Epidemiology Program (UIC-CCTEP) housed in the School of Public Health began monitoring COVID-19 on campus and performing contact tracing on UIC employees and students infected with COVID-19.

UIC-CCTEP will provide contact tracing for two types of COVID-19 tests:

1. UIC campus saliva testing, performed on UIC’s campus for asymptomatic employees and students.
2. On-demand testing, performed on a UIC student or employee because they are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 or have had a known exposure to someone with COVID-19. This testing may be done at University Health Services, Student Health Services, or through a personal health care provider.

To provide contact tracing to all students and employees, UIC-CCTEP will partner with University Health Services, who already provides contact tracing for employees and some students, specifically those employed by the University or engaged in hands-on clinical work as part of their training, who test positive for COVID-19 at their clinic, as well as for employees who report having on-demand testing through their provider.

UIC-CCTEP will provide contact tracing for any student or employee who tests positive through the UIC campus saliva testing, as well as for students who report having a positive test through their personal health care provider.

Students are required to report any positive COVID-19 tests that they receive to UIC-CCTEP through an online form, except for those from UIC’s campus saliva testing.

Employees should continue to communicate positive test results from their providers to University Health Services.

UIC-CCTEP will be in touch with anyone who receives a positive saliva test or submits a positive test result within 24-48 hours of their result or submission of their results online, respectively.

Individuals will be notified about saliva test results in the MyMcKinley portal. If you test positive or were exposed to someone who tests positive, UIC-CCTEP will contact you using the following methods:

• By phone: 312-355-2555

• By email: uic_contact_tracing@uic.edu

It is possible that if you are positive you will hear from UIC-CCTEP prior to receiving your test results in some situations.

UIC-CCTEP will support UIC faculty, staff, and students who test positive through saliva testing or are exposed to someone who tests positive. If the contact tracing team are unable to reach individuals by phone, they will then try other means to reach you, such as email. If they are still unable to reach you, they will contact the Registrar or UIC Human Resources for students and employees, respectively, for assistance to get in touch with you. For students, this may mean that a hold is placed on their account.

The team will then provide daily follow-up during a person’s isolation period, except for those employees and students for whom University Health Services will provide subsequent follow-up (see above). UIC-CCTEP will inform these individuals when it is acceptable for them to leave isolation.

A key component of contact tracing is to obtain a list of persons who may have been exposed to infected individuals. If an individual receives a positive test result it will be important to begin compiling a list of persons with whom they have been in contact, particularly if that involved close contact (within 6 feet for more than 15 minutes of contact in an indoor environment). After assembling a list of contacts, the tracing team will reach out by phone to any UIC employee or student who may have been exposed to an individual diagnosed with COVID-19 in order to provide support and guidance.  Every effort will be made to keep the name of the infected individual confidential. Persons with significant exposures to the infected individual will be asked to quarantine for 14 days.

Everyone on campus should update their university contact information in case UIC-CCTEP needs to alert you of important information related to a COVID-positive exposure on campus.

Students

• In Self-Service, select “University of Illinois Chicago.”
• Log in using your NetID and Password.
• In the Main Menu, select “Personal Information.”
• In the Personal Information menu, select “Addresses & Phones.”

Faculty/staff

• In My UI Info, select “My Profile”
• Log in using NetID and Password
• Select “My Profile”
• Select “Address/Contact Information”

Your cooperation and participation in the contact tracing program is necessary to stop the spread of infection in the community. If you have questions about UIC contact tracing, please call 312-355-2555.