Testing Positive
- If you test positive for COVID-19, you must enter isolation. Learn more.
Updated April 30, 2021
If you are notified by Bailey Health Center, a contact tracer, or a local department of public health that you have come into close contact with someone who has or is suspected of having COVID-19, you must quarantine for 7-10 days. You must remain quarantined until Bailey Health Center or a contact tracer clears you to return to normal activity. You may choose to quarantine at home. Students in traditional residence halls may have the option to move to a designated space, which may be on campus or in a local hotel. Students in houses, apartments, or suite-style housing can quarantine in place with proper precautions.
If you are assigned to isolate or quarantine, the Office of Advising will notify any in-person instructors via email that you are not cleared to attend in-person classes. You should contact your instructors to ask about ways to participate remotely. As long as your health allows, plan on continuing to participate remotely in your classes while in quarantine or isolation. Upon your release from isolation or quarantine, your in-person faculty will be notified you are cleared to resume attendance.
Students assigned to traditional residence halls (floors with communal bathrooms) may have the option to move to quarantine housing either on campus or in a local hotel. Students living in suite-style housing or in an off-campus house will quarantine in their own room. Students are expected to limit movement within their suites/houses and to sanitize spaces after use. They should bring cleaning supplies with them to campus.
Students should bring an isolation/quarantine kit with them to campus. This kit should include things like shelf-stable food and drinks they may wish to have in addition to their meal plan, entertainment like crossword puzzles, books, magazines, or easily transportable video games, over-the-counter medications like aspirin or tylenol, a thermometer, comfort items like a blanket or stuffed animal, etc. Linens will be provided in rooms, but students may prefer to bring their own. Beds will be XL twin size. Cleaning supplies will be provided, but students may prefer to bring their own.
Students also should ensure they have two weeks’ worth of clothing and prescription medication ready to go. Do not let laundry pile up nor prescriptions get empty before refilling.
Students should consider asking their faculty how remote learning will be handled in the event of quarantine or isolation if it is not addressed in the syllabus.
If you have accessibility accommodations, have a plan for continuing them while you are quarantined. If you need assistance in planning, contact the Office of Accessibility Services.
According to CDC guidelines, close contact is defined as being within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.
Students in quarantine should call Bailey Health Center to request an appointment for an antigen (rapid) test on day 1 of quarantine. If the test is negative, the student will go to quarantine and the test is repeated (by appointment) on day 7. If the test is positive, the student moves to isolation. For test appointment scheduling purposes, if day 7 falls on a Saturday, the rapid test should be done on the preceding Friday. If day 7 falls on a Sunday, the test should be done Monday. Students must receive official clearance from Bailey Health Center to end quarantine.
You may request to quarantine at home by speaking with the COVID-19 housing team. If you are approved to quarantine off campus, you must follow quarantining guidelines and restrictions set by Lafayette College, the state of Pennsylvania, and the Centers for Disease Control.
Please note:
To return to campus, you will need to be approved by Bailey Health Center.
If you travel to quarantine in a high-prevalence state as designated by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, you may need to take an asymptomatic COVID-19 test when you return to campus and quarantine until you’ve received a negative result, similar to the travel requirements when students arrived on campus for the fall. The states included on the list can change, so please check before traveling. Bailey Health Center will provide specific instructions based on the dates and locations of travel.
Students may take one 45-minute walk per day and must be masked and socially distant while out. For students in on-campus housing, part of the daily walk will include meal pickup from a centralized location.
No. Quarantine requires students to be apart from others to the fullest extent possible and not leave their place of residence except for one walk per day and necessary medical care. Students in quarantine are encouraged to connect virtually with family and friends.
Yes. Many activities will remain virtual for the spring semester. Counseling appointments, social programming, recreational activities, etc., are all available virtually.
You must continue to quarantine until you are officially cleared by Bailey Health Center to leave. Students will be tested during their quarantine. While you may receive an email with your testing result, that alone is not sufficient to leave quarantine. Students should plan to quarantine for 10 days.
Students living in traditional residence halls with communal bathrooms will be required to move to quarantine-specific housing. Students living in off-campus housing or suite-style housing will quarantine in place. In College-owned housing, Facilities Operations will regularly sanitize shared areas. Students living in private off-campus houses will be responsible for their own cleaning. All students should bring cleaning supplies with them at move-in. Quarantine is for seven days pending a negative test result.
If your roommate or suitemate tests positive, they will be moved into isolation housing. If you are identified as a close contact, a contact tracer will be in touch with you about quarantining. Read more about contact tracing.
COVID-19 symptoms include one or more of the following: fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea.
Faculty, staff, and students who live on campus or regularly come to campus are required to report the development of any COVID-19-like symptoms on the Daily Health Assessment.