Two cases of COVID-19 confirmed at UCalgary

By Kristy Koehler, July 23 2020—

The Gauntlet has learned that two more cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed at the University of Calgary.

An anonymous source reached out to express concern about the process for communicating with staff and students about potential exposure to the novel coronavirus. To the best of their knowledge, no student-wide email was sent to inform the community that they may have come into contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19.

The University of Calgary provided the following statement:

“We can confirm that over the past week, there have been two unrelated confirmed cases of COVID-19 at UCalgary. One was reported at the Foothills Campus and the other in a Faculty of Science research lab. In both instances, the university’s COVID-19 Procedure for Sick Employees was followed. Alberta Health Services (AHS) was also notified and conducted follow-up, and caretaking has thoroughly cleaned and disinfected the spaces.

“Additionally, as we prepare for the fall semester, UCalgary will soon be sharing our updated protocols with the campus community for communicating confirmed COVID-19 cases on campus moving forward.”

UPDATE:

On July 29, U of C president Ed McCauley sent an email announcing updated protocols with regard to COVID-19 communications.

“Starting today, the University will be maintaining a live dashboard of any known cases of COVID-19 on campus,” read the email. “While the information provided in the dashboard will still be summarized in the University’s COVID-19 email updates, community members will now also be able to find up-to-the-moment information online.”

McCauley noted in the email that he hoped the dashboard would act “as a supplement to, not replacement for, existing measures to protect yourself against COVID-19,” reminding the campus community to maintain physical distance, avoid unnecessarily touching surfaces, regular hand-washing and following mask guidelines.