Dear Kenyon College community,
As we welcome students and employees back to campus for the spring semester, we want to take a moment to remind you of our COVID-19 testing program and the ways in which the College will report the presence of COVID-19 on its campus.
Kenyon has engaged the laboratory Everlywell to provide tests and processing for all students in residence and Kenyon College employees; more details regarding testing protocols, including frequency of testing and next steps should you test positive, are available on Kenyon’s website. Test kits were made available to employees earlier this month; employees with questions should contact Director of Human Resources Jennifer Cabral.
The College receives copies of these Everlywell test results and will update by approximately 6 p.m. ET each weekday a dashboard of aggregate data including active and total cases for students and employees, the number of students in quarantine, and the number of students and employees who have been tested. The dashboard also will include information regarding COVID-19 presence in Gambier and Knox County. Please note that personal data will be kept in confidence and shared with only those responsible for managing care.
Our reports capture data collected through our campus testing protocols. It is possible that individuals, particularly employees, who seek testing through off-campus sites may not be included in these numbers. If they are Knox County residents, they will be included in Knox County data, which are provided by Knox Public Health (KPH) each weekday; KPH provides updated data on Gambier cases (outside of Kenyon’s campus testing protocols) less frequently given constraints on their staff. Keep in mind that not every positive test result correlates with a confirmed COVID-19 case; for example, individuals may be tested more than once during an illness, or individuals may test positive following recovery, when they are no longer infectious but traces of virus remain in their body.
All students and employees will be emailed weekly a summary report of the presence of COVID-19 on campus. To sign up for a daily dashboard reminder, which will be sent starting tonight, please fill out this form. (If you already opted in to these daily reminders in the fall, you do not need to re-subscribe.) Regular updates also will be shared on Kenyon’s social media channels.
Despite our best collective efforts, it is possible that we will have some positive results on campus this semester. The College will notify you via email should there be a change in alert status or cause for increased caution, but it does not plan to email the community of every new instance of a positive test result. We have protocols in place to manage the presence of COVID-19 on our campus, and we are building on the experience of last semester to do so with minimal disruption.
Thank you for your cooperation and partnership in keeping campus safe and healthy this semester.
Sincerely,
Chris Smith, MPH
Director, Cox Health and Counseling Center
Jennifer Cabral
Director of Human Resources