COVID-19 Prevention: UB Workplace
UB has implemented several guidelines and protocols to ensure that our campuses are safe for our faculty, staff and student employees.
Need Help?
Need help with UB's COVID-19 protocols for employees? Please contact:
- Your supervisor
- UB Human Resources, 716-645-7777, ub-hr@buffalo.edu
- UB Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
Updates
UB has instituted a set of protocols for screening, testing and contract tracing to help us prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our campus community.
UB's Protocols
UB’s protocol for COVID-19 screening, testing, contact tracing and quarantine is based on:
- The most recent scientific research
- SUNY and state guidelines
- Expertise of UB faculty specializing in infectious disease and public health
- The most recent guidance from the CDC
Daily Health Check
All faculty, staff and volunteer faculty/staff who come to a UB or UBMD campus must also complete the Daily Health Check.
Volunteers, adjunct faculty, tenants/affiliates residing in UB facilities, vendors, visitors and invited guests to campus who are otherwise not affiliated with the university are required to complete the Daily Health Check prior to their arrival on campus.
Please note that UB students, faculty and staff who are not required to complete the Daily Health Check are strongly encouraged to do so out of concern for their personal health and the health of the entire community.
When to Complete the Daily Health Check
You should complete the Daily Health Check early in your day. If you plan to be on campus on a given day, you must complete the Daily Health Check before you arrive.
Students living on campus must complete the Daily Health Check before leaving their residence hall for the day.
Signing up for text message notifications makes it easy to complete your Daily Health Check. You’ll receive a reminder between 7-8 a.m. with a link for that day.
After being cleared for on-campus activity, you will receive a notification badge for that day.
The Daily Health Check will ask, at minimum, whether the participant:
- Has experienced any COVID-19 symptoms in the past 10 days.
- Has tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the past 10 days.
- Has had contact with a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 case in the past 14 days.
- Has returned to New York State within the past 14 days from a location on New York State’s COVID-19 Travel Advisory list after having stayed in that location for more than 24 hours (round-trip Canadian travel excluded).
Source: Human Resources
Viral Testing
UB requires viral testing for individuals who report symptoms consistent with COVID-19 or develop such symptoms during quarantine.
- Faculty and staff should arrange testing through their health care provider.
- Students will be directed to available testing off-campus.
- The cost of testing is the responsibility of each person through their health insurance carrier.
- Any person who has a positive viral test will be immediately sent home or to a designated isolation location.
In the event that infection becomes more widespread in the local community and/or on campus, widespread testing for SARS-CoV-2 infection may be conducted to identify cases for isolation and to guide aggressive contact tracing. Both of these measures would mitigate further spread.
The university will require a quarantine for individuals awaiting the result of viral testing.
Notification and Contact Tracing
Notification of State and Local Health Agencies
The university will immediately notify the state and local health departments of known confirmed positive cases on a UB campus.
Contract Tracing
If a member of the campus community is tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, UB will support the Erie County Health Department’s contact tracing procedures in accordance with the New York State Contact Tracing Program. Confidentiality will be maintained as required by federal and state law and regulations.
The university will continue to evaluate new smartphone and web-based technologies that monitor individual activities and potential exposures to assess whether these new technologies will add value to current screening and contact tracing programs.
Quarantine
Quarantine separates and restricts the movement of people who were or may have been exposed to COVID-19 to prevent spreading the virus.
Quarantine helps prevent spread of disease that can occur before a person knows they are sick or if they are infected with the virus without feeling symptoms.
People in quarantine should stay home, separate themselves from others, monitor their health, and follow directions from their state or local health department.
You should stay home for 14 days after your last contact with a person who has COVID-19.
UB recommends or requires quarantine in specific circumstances, as described below:
Precautionary Quarantine
To reduce the risk of virus transmission, and in accordance with SUNY guidelines, a precautionary seven-day quarantine at their own residence is highly recommended for all UB students, faculty and staff who return to or come to campus in August (or thereafter) to start the academic year.
During these seven days, all members of the campus community are asked to exercise extra caution in protecting yourself from COVID-19 infection, especially by:
- Avoiding travel
- Avoiding large gatherings
- Limiting public exposure
Upon return to campus, it is important and necessary that all individuals adhere to all UB health guidelines, which include the use of a face covering at all times, appropriate physical distancing and frequent handwashing.
The university’s guidelines will continue to be updated as needed in accordance with new recommendations from the state and CDC, and as new scientific findings emerge. Updates will be posted on the Health and Safety Guidelines webpage.
14-day Quarantine
In accordance with New York State health guidelines, UB requires a mandatory 14-day quarantine for individuals who meet these criteria:
- Individuals awaiting the result of viral testing, or
- Individuals who report close contact (being within 6 feet for more than 15 minutes or receiving respiratory secretions via cough, sneeze or kiss) with people who have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, or
- Individuals who report close contact with people whose symptoms are highly suggestive of COVID-19 (e.g., the loss of taste or smell) if one or both parties were not wearing masks.
- Individuals who arrive at UB from states identified by New York State as being restricted due to significant spread of COVID-19
- This requirement does not apply to any individual passing through designated states for a limited duration (i.e., less than 24 hours) through the course of travel.
- Employees who travel to such states are ineligible for paid sick leave benefits if the travel was not directed by UB.
How to Quarantine
If you test positive for COVID-19, please contact these offices first. This will help UB take steps to protect the health of others.
Students:
Health Services
Michael Hall, South Campus
716-829-3316
Students, please do not visit Health Services without an appointment.
Employees:
Human Resources
UB-HR@buffalo.edu
716-645-7777
When it is necessary to quarantine, please follow these guidelines:
- Stay home and avoid contact with others, especially people who are at higher risk for getting very sick from COVID-19
- Do not go out in public
- Watch for fever (100.4◦F), cough, shortness of breath, or other symptoms of COVID-19
- If you must interact with others, wear a face mask and keep your distance from others (about 6 feet or 2 meters)
Precautionary Quarantine
To reduce the risk of virus transmission, and in accordance with SUNY guidelines, a precautionary seven-day quarantine at their own residence is highly recommended for all UB students, faculty and staff who return to or come to campus in August (or thereafter) to start the academic year.
During these seven days, all members of the campus community are asked to exercise extra caution in protecting yourself from COVID-19 infection, especially by:
- Avoiding travel
- Avoiding large gatherings
- Limiting public exposure
Upon return to campus, it is important and necessary that all individuals adhere to all UB health guidelines, which include the use of a face covering at all times, appropriate physical distancing and frequent handwashing.
The university’s guidelines will continue to be updated as needed in accordance with new recommendations from the state and CDC, and as new scientific findings emerge. Updates will be posted on the Health and Safety Guidelines webpage.
Travel and COVID-19
Travel-related Quarantine
In accordance with New York State guidelines, students, faculty, staff and visitors arriving in New York State from designated states that have significant community spread of COVID-19 will be required to quarantine for 14 days before coming to campus. This requirement does not apply to any individual passing through designated states for a limited duration (i.e., less than 24 hours) through the course of travel.
Employees who travel to such states are ineligible for paid sick leave benefits if the travel was not directed by UB.
1. If an employee commenced travel on or before June 25, 2020:
- Employee may telecommute, if applicable, for the duration of the quarantine
- If the employee cannot telecommute, the employee shall be covered by quarantine leave, if applicable.
- If no quarantine leave is available, the employee shall charge appropriate leave accruals.
2. If an employee commenced travel after June 25, 2020, regardless of return date:
- Employee may telecommute, if applicable, for the duration of the quarantine.
- If the employee cannot telecommute, the employee shall not be permitted access to quarantine leave, if applicable but may charge appropriate leave accruals.
These rules apply to employee travel to states listed on the New York State Department of Health (DOH) site:
- If a state is added to the list after an employee commences travel, the provisions of paragraph 1 above shall apply.
- If a state is added to the list on or before the date the employee commences travel, the provisions of paragraph 2 above shall apply.
Travel for Work
Before traveling out of state, all employees should consult the DOH website to confirm whether they are traveling to a state that requires quarantine upon return to New York.
These provisions do not apply if an employee travels to a designated state as part of the employee’s employment or at the direction of the employee’s agency:
- If UB orders an employee to travel to a designated state for work, the employee may telecommute for the duration of the quarantine.
- If the employee cannot telecommute, the employee shall be placed on quarantine leave at full pay without charge to accruals.
Returning to Work After Travel
UB employees returning from a designated state who cannot telecommute and are deemed essential and critical for the operation or safety of the workplace, upon a documented determination by their supervisor and a human resources (HR) representative in consultation with appropriate state and local health authorities, the exposed, asymptomatic employee may return to work so long as the employee adheres to the following practices prior to and during their work shift, which should be monitored and documented by the employer and employee:
- Regular monitoring: The employee must self-monitor for a temperature greater than or equal to 100.0 degrees Fahrenheit every 12 hours and symptoms consistent with COVID-19 under the supervision of their employer’s occupational health program.
- Wear a mask: The employee must wear a face mask at all times while in the workplace for 14 days after last exposure.
- Social distance: The employee must continue social distancing practices, including maintaining, at least, six feet of distance from others.
- Clean and disinfect workspaces: The employer must continue to regularly clean and disinfect all areas, such as offices, bathrooms, common areas, and shared electronic equipment.
- Maintain quarantine: The employee must continue to self-quarantine and self-monitor for temperature and symptoms when not at the workplace for 14 days after last exposure.
If an employee is symptomatic upon arrival at work or becomes sick with COVID-19 symptoms while at the workplace, absent close or proximate contact with a person with COVID-19, the employee must be separated and sent home immediately and may return to work upon completing at least 10 days of isolation from the onset of symptoms OR upon receipt of a negative COVID-19 test result.
Updated 7/22/2020