Western Sees COVID-19 Cases on Rock Springs Cam

Posted 10/13/20

COVID=-19 on Wesern campus

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Western Sees COVID-19 Cases on Rock Springs Cam

Posted

ROCK SPRINGS — Western Wyoming Community College’s Rock Springs Campus has had one employee and two students test positive for COVID-19 since Tuesday, October 6, 2020.
The employee is aware of when they were exposed and has not been to campus since the time of exposure and is self-isolating. One student is living in Western’s Residence Halls and is self-isolating. One student lives off campus and is self-isolating.

Contact tracing is conducted by public health officials. Public health officials contact those who have possible exposure to the infected person, then make a recommendation on testing and/or quarantining. When there is a positive case, Public health officials contact either Western’s Dean of Students or Western’s Human Resources (HR) Director, so that the College can take follow-up steps with the student or employee to ensure learning outcomes are met and work-related tasks are managed.

Additionally, Western has created an internal COVID-19 self-reporting form so that those who feel ill can report it to the respective COVID-19 Crisis Team lead, which would be the Dean of Students for students, or to the HR Director for employees. The form also allows people to report on behalf of someone else, such as an instructor or parent reporting for a student.

“Western’s COVID-19 Crisis Team made the decision to require masks on campus, in addition to providing six-foot social distancing in our classrooms. Recent evidence from the CDC indicates that the virus is transmitted through airborne particles. We believe that with requiring face coverings, we have mitigated the spread as much as possible,” stated Dr. Dustin Conover, Dean of Students at Western.

For Western students self-isolating or quarantining on campus, three meals per day are being provided and being left outside their door for no-contact delivery. Western’s Dean of Students communicates with the students self-isolating or quarantining on campus a daily basis for updates. Western currently has nine students in the residence halls self-isolating or quarantining.

The Dean of Students and HR Director are in regular contact with those in self-isolation off-campus.

Western’s COVID-19 Dashboard is updated daily with the latest case numbers. The daily numbers reflect the case number totals from the end of the day, the day before they are posted. Additionally, Western’s Coronavirus Updates website page contains the latest COVID-19 information as it pertains to Western.