Testing and Quarantine Status
Last Updated 8/24/2022. Updated quarantine expectations to be in line with current CDC guidance.
This page may be updated regularly as local, University of Alaska, and State of Alaska guidance and/or policy changes.
Student Housing Restriction Statuses
You will be a quarantining student if you meet any of the following criteria:
- Students who begin experiencing COVID-19 symptoms while living on campus.
Restrictions for students who are Quarantining:
- You must remain in your assigned housing unit at all times.
- You may not utilize Housing Laundry facilities, nor may you utilize Dining Take-Out or Dine-in services. Housing will work with you to deliver food, mail, and assist you with laundry.
- You must reside in a unit alone. If you have a roommate or suitemate when you are placed into quarantine, Student Housing may temporarily assign you to a new space.
- You may not be a guest within housing, nor may you host guests in your unit.
- You may not attend class. It is your responsibility to inform your faculty of your quarantine status and to request an accommodation.
If at any time you receive a positive COVID-19 test, you will be placed in Isolation until you are released by the University. You will work closely with Student Housing staff to track your status and you will be informed once you are no longer in need of Isolation.
Restrictions for students who are in Isolation:
- You must remain in your assigned housing unit.
- You may not utilize Housing Laundry facilities, nor may you utilize Dining Take Out or Dine-in services. Housing will work with you to deliver food, mail, and assist you with laundry.
- You must reside in a unit alone. If you have a roommate when you are placed into quarantine, Student Housing may temporarily assign you to a new space.
- You may not be a guest within housing, nor may you host guests in your unit.
- You may not attend class in-person. It is your responsibility to inform your faculty of your quarantine status and to request an accommodation.
- You will be assigned a contact person in Student Housing who will check in with you daily and assist you with your various needs.
Considerations for individuals who are up to date with COVID vaccination or who have recently recovered from COVID-19
“Up to date” regarding COVID-19 immunizations means individuals have received all CDC recommended doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. This currently includes:
- 2 doses of Pfizer or Moderna Vaccine or 1 dose of Johnson & Johnson and
- 1 "booster" dose of a vaccine:
- 6 months after receiving 2 doses of Moderna
- 5 months after receiving 2 doses of Pfizer
- 2 months after receiving 1 dose of Johnson & Johnson
Note that this guidance may be updated by the CDC. To view the most current vaccination recommendations, visit this webpage.
In order to be considered up to date as a UAS Housing resident, your vaccine record must be on file with Student Housing. Email your record to uas.housing@alaska.edu.
"Recently recovered" from COVID-19 means individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 90 days, have been provided a medical release from isolation, and do not have COVID-19 Symptoms. In order to be considered recently recovered from COVID-19 as a UAS Housing Resident, you must provide a copy of your medical release to Student Housing. Email your documentation to uas.housing@alaska.edu.
Individuals who are up to date with vaccinations or who have recently recovered from COVID-19 may not be asked to quarantine following a close contact to someone with COVID-19 as long as they are not symptomatic . (Note testing may still be required).
Campus Contact Tracing Practices
Whenever University of Alaska Southeast staff receive word that a student on campus or within housing has developed COVID-19 symptoms or tested postive for COVID-19, staff members with training in basic contact tracing will reach out to the individual affected and:
- Direct them to enter isolation or quarantine as necessary. For Housing students, staff members will work with the student to provide them a unit to reside in alone. In some cases this will result in either the individual or their roommate being moved temporarily to a new unit, based on circumstances.
- Conduct a contact tracing and assessment interview to determine what other individuals on campus, if any, are considered close contacts. Close contacts are defined as being within 6 feet for a cumulative time of 15 minutes or more in a 24 hour period within 48 hours of the individual becoming symptomatic, receiving their test results, or entering quarantine/isolation, whichever is earliest.
- Offer the individual support to make class accommodations and assist with laundry, mail, and food services as appropriate.
Notification of COVID-19 cases to the Student Housing population
The University of Alaska encourages all individuals on campus to presume that COVID-19 is present in our community, on our campus, and in our student housing units at any and all times. Any individual on campus could be an asymptomatic carrier of COVID-19. Because of this expectation, UAS does not disclose all COVID-19 positive cases to the broader campus population.
Additionally, student personally identifiable information is protected by FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Because of the sensitive nature of health information, UAS is not permitted to disclose all students who have COVID-19 on campus, nor may we provide sufficient information that would allow an individual to deduce who may have tested positive for COVID-19. Recent guidance from the Department of Education has clarified that institutions of higher education may share personally identifiable information with relevant agencies (such as public health) when a student tests positive for COVID-19. However, such information could not necessarily be shared with a students' parents, other students, or other third parties.
When a student tests positive for COVID-19 or becomes a person under investigation for any reason, the students' confidentiality will be maintained to the greatest extent possible. To best protect your own confidentiality:
- Comply with requests from UA staff that you reach out to Public Health. If you fail to do so, UA staff may need to reach out on your behalf and share personally identifiable information in order to protect the health and safety of the campus population. Such outreach would only be to applicable public health organizations.
- Engage in a timely manner with requests for a contact tracing interview with UA staff. If you fail to do so, UA staff may deem it necessary to notify the campus population that individuals should determine if they have been in close contact with you and take precautions as appropriate. By providing data directly to UA staff regarding who your close contacts were, UA staff can contact those individuals and ask them to quarantine and self-observe without sharing any personally identifiable information.
- Immediately comply with requests to quarantine or isolate and not leave your unit. If you fail to do so, UA staff may be required to notify the campus population that you are a danger to the ongoing health and safety of the population and direct others to avoid you.
If you would like to give UAS permission to discuss your specific situation non-emergency-contacts such as family members, parents, or specific third parties, please fill out a FERPA Release Form.
By complying with the items above, UA staff can generally ensure that your name or other personally identifiable information is not released to the general campus population as a COVID-19 positive student.
Instances in which non-personally identifiable information may be released to the campus population:
In limited instances, non-personally identifiable information may be shared with the campus population in the form of an emergency notification if there is deemed to be an immediate threat to the health and safety of the campus population. Such notifications will be determined on a case-by-case basis. One lone COVID positive student who immediately informs UA staff and enters isolation does not generally constitute an immediate threat to health and safety for the campus population as a whole. Some examples of why an emergency notification is shared with the campus population may include (but not necessarily be limited to):
- An individual student has been diagnosed with COVID-19, has many close contacts, and/or has generally been unable to determine who all of those close contacts are.
- A number of cases occur in a residential facility in a short time without a clear understanding of how COVID spread between those cases.
- A COVID-19 positive individual was present at a gathering in which appropriate precautions were not taken that may have an on-campus effect.