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UB deploys mandatory daily health screening tool
The Daily Health Check is a virtual screener that uses advanced chatbot technology to detect potential cases of COVID-19 infection early and provide users with need-to-know information tailored to their situation. Image: Bob Wilder
UBNOW STAFF
Published August 17, 2020
UB has launched an important new tool as part of its comprehensive Health and Safety Guidelines to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 on campus. The Daily Health Check is a virtual screener based on the latest scientific research that uses advanced chatbot technology to detect potential cases of COVID-19 infection early and provide users with need-to-know information tailored to their situation.
Beginning this week, all UB faculty, staff and students are required to complete the Daily Health Check every day, whether or not they plan to visit campus, including on weekends and holidays. Additionally, visitors to campus who are otherwise not affiliated with UB will also be required to complete the virtual screener prior to their visit.
“Our public health depends on personal responsibility,” says Michael E. Cain, vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. “With a disease as contagious as COVID-19, the actions and precautions we take as individuals affect everyone around us. Completing the Daily Health Check every day is crucial to protecting the health and safety of our UB community on and off our UB campuses.”
The Daily Health Check runs like a messaging window inside a web browser. The program asks users whether they have experienced any symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the past 10 days, have been in close contact with a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19 in the past 14 days, or have traveled outside the state in the past 14 days, with the exception of to and from Canada.
Those who confirm that they are healthy will be cleared for on-campus activity and receive a pass for that day, which should be saved with a screenshot or printed out to show campus officials.
If a user indicates possible infection or exposure, the Daily Health Check will provide appropriate next steps, including where to get tested, how to quarantine and important contact details. The individual will then receive a secure email requesting additional information so that the university may follow up.
Only the minimum amount of personal information required to effectively screen individuals is collected and is never shared, in accordance with applicable federal privacy laws.
“Health-related information is some of an individual’s most sensitive data,” says J. Brice Bible, vice president and chief information officer. “We have developed this tool to both deliver critical information resources while securely protecting all UB community member data.”
Like the UB Health and Safety Guidelines, of which it is a part, the Daily Health Check is designed to adapt to changing research related to COVID-19. Functionality updates to make the tool more user friendly are already underway, including text message notifications and additional personalization options, to launch in September.
READER COMMENTS
Since we "may be required" to provide proof of taking this questionnaire, why not provide the access pass in a downloadable photo format (ex .jpg) on the webpage so it easy to provide the proof if/when someone is challenged for it?
Dennis Reszka
I work one day a week, part-time clinical faculty at the School of Dental Medicine. I am assuming I only need to do daily attestation on the day I work. Is this correct?
Frances DePlato
There has to be an easier way for everyone to do this questionnaire every day. It needs to be an app on our phones so we aren’t hunting for it every day in our emails. If we have to show this possibly every time we enter the building, make it easier to access.
Lorrie Mandell
Why don't we have an app for this? It would make life so much simpler, especially if we're in the parking lot and forget to log in to this website.
Also, there's no time stamp, so you can literally log in whenever and still get a "pass" for the day.
Janice Jones
I do not understand how collecting information from asymptomatic employees helps to reduce the spread of the virus. I am also concerned that a daily attestation by employees who work remotely and/or not scheduled to work on weekends or holidays is an invasion of privacy and not contributory to reducing the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
If someone could help me to understand the importance of this data collection, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.
Tirzah Evege-Thompson
Please make it possible to download and print the portion of the form that includes only the daily pass. Not everyone has the proper technology to easily have a copy to show while on campus. Printing the entire form each day will be a huge waste of paper.
Also, I did not provide a name when I completed the form. Is there an automatic link between the form and my access to the UB network?
How will I receive a response to my questions?
Thank you.
Marcia Zubrow
Once we are back in offices, what is the policy for visitors? Should hospital staff/physicians complete the same daily attestation? Is there a separate policy for outside visitors, vendors, repair/service technicians?
Jacklyn Ulinski
There has to be an easier, more direct way to access this. All I want is the form so I can fill it out and submit.
Laurie Glieco
This is overreach and borderline authoritarian. I am being threatened with suspension of my education for not completing a questionnaire. I do not ever go to campus because I am fully remote and have no need, but because I am a resident of Erie County I must complete this every day now?
Besides this not making any sense, I am also now being forced to earn my degree in this watered-down format while being subjected to this nonsense. I would reconsider making this mandatory and ponder if it’s even doing anything any way. You are only punishing people who follow the guidelines to begin with.
Daniel J. Zakis Jr.