Dylon Harrison
Managing Editor
At this point, COVID-19 and the safety measures surrounding it have become a part of life around the world.
All semester, instructors have been keeping their students updated on the most recent recommendations on how to avoid contracting the virus. However, there hasn’t been as much focus on what to do if you do get it.
In the Bengal Pledge, the first section is dedicated to protecting yourself. In this section, the first step is monitoring for a variety of symptoms associated with COVID-19.
The mentioned symptoms are as follows: a fever of 100.4 F (38 C) or higher, difficulty breathing, dry cough, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and loss of taste or smell.
Students and faculty displaying any of these symptoms are asked to report to the university health center in order to be tested. You are also asked to limit your contact with others as much as possible immediately upon noticing symptoms.
“Medical professionals are able to take care of you no matter where you are physically located,” according to the university’s Roaring Back website.
Students are asked to contact the Health Center at 208-282-2330 prior to coming in. From there, they will be directed on what to do next by the Health Center’s staff.
If the test comes back positive, contact tracing will be conducted to determine who might have come into contact with the infected individual.
If you believe that you might have contacted COVID-19, or you have come into contact with someone who has or potentially has, you are encouraged to self-isolate for two weeks and be tested if possible.
Idaho State University has also provided recommendations for those who are required to isolate.
If you are isolating, it is recommended that masks be worn if you are in the same room as your roommates. You should also restrict non-essential visitors, avoid sharing household items, clean “high touch” surfaces and stay separate in different rooms as much as possible.
Other recommendations on needed sanitization are also provided.
Having just come back to school after a holiday weekend, ISU has also put in place measures to determine if self-isolation is needed for those who traveled away from campus.
An email was sent to the entire Bengal community from President Satterlee. This email included a flowchart of various scenarios in which individuals may or may not need to isolate. This chart is also available on the Roaring Back website.
If a student traveled to a high risk area, they will be asked to isolate if they did any of the following without taking proper precautions: stayed with residents who did not follow precautions for 14 day prior to the visit, used public transportation, attended a group activity or went to public spaces.
ISU’s provided criteria for high risk locations include counties that have had more than 10 cases per capita over the past seven days.
Individuals who did not travel to a high risk location will be asked to isolate themselves if they attended any group activities without taking precautions.
The required precautions, as detailed by the Roaring Back website are maintaining a physical distance of six feet between yourself and others, limiting contact within six feet to less than 15 minutes, correctly wearing a face covering and frequent washing or sanitizing of your hands.
“Each and every member of our Bengal community is expected to follow our safety precautions,” President Satterlee said in his email. “They are not optional; they are required.”
The best way to protect yourself and others is still to wear a mask at all times when in public spaces and wash your hands often. The virus can be contracted asymptomatically, so those precautions should still be taken even if you are not displaying symptoms yourself.
More information on what to do if you or someone you have contacted may have contracted COVID-19 can be found at isu.edu/roaringback.
