Symptoms of COVID-19:
They can be similar to the flu or cold: fever of 100.4°F or higher, felt feverish, chills, muscle aches, body aches, fatigue, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, hoarseness, runny nose, congestion, sore throat, nausea, vomiting, headache, abdominal pain, diarrhea or loose stools, or lost sense of smell or taste. Symptoms can occur in as few as 2 days after exposure, or as long as 14+ days after exposure.
First Step:
- Faculty and Staff:
-
- Stay home, call your supervisor, division chair, Vice President, or the person you normally report your absence to.
- Students:
- Stay in your dorm room and do not enter any main campus building where you may expose others. Notify your professor and any other necessary parties of your absence.
- Students off-campus:
- Stay home. Notify your professor and any other necessary parties of your absence.
Second Step:
- Stay home or in your dorm room.
- Complete the #CampusClear daily health status.
- Fill out the Contact Me form and the Campus Nurse or designee will contact you. If you need immediate medical assistance, call 9-1-1.
- The Campus Nurse or designee will telescreen your symptoms using the MDH Decision Tree and underlying health conditions to identify if further medical care is necessary. You can find the symptoms of COVID-19 here.
- If you meet the criteria for medical evaluation or the criteria to be tested by a health care provider as indicated in the MDH Decision Tree, the Campus Nurse or designee will provide instruction for how to proceed.
- If you need immediate medical assistance, call 9-1-1. Before going into a healthcare facility, call ahead to inform the facility about your symptoms and your possible contact with an infected individual.
If required to quarantine (no symptoms) or isolate (test positive):
- Faculty and Staff:
-
- Please notify your supervisor, division chair, Vice President, or the person you normally report your absence to so that alternate staffing arrangements can be made.
- Notify Human Resources (507-233-9150) of your planned absence to begin an absence claim and to identify if any telecommuting work is available.
- Employees exhibiting symptoms may be eligible for FMLA if required to isolate after being diagnosed with a serious medical condition like COVID-19. Employees should call Human Resources (507-233-9150) to begin an eligible claim and to identify if any telecommuting work is available. Brown County Public Health and the Campus Nurse will identify a return to work date.
- Students:
- The Campus Nurse will report your illness-related absence using current procedures already in place. Regular communications with professors and instructors are always recommended. Work with your professor to continue academic studies and be proactive in finding solutions. Brown County Public Health and the Campus Nurse will identify a return to campus date.
- Everyone:
- All faculty, staff, and students will be required to use #CampusClear to record daily health status.
Isolation vs. Quarantine
Isolation – used to separate people infected with the virus (those who are sick with COVID-19 and those with no symptoms) from people who are not infected. People who are in isolation should stay home or away from others until it’s safe for them to be around others. In the home, anyone sick or infected should separate themselves from others by staying in a specific “sick room” or area and using a separate bathroom, if available. The isolation period lasts as long as necessary until all three of these things are true: [1] the symptoms are better, [2] it has been ten (10) days since the individual first felt sick, and [3] the individual has not had a fever for at least 24-hours without using fever-reducing or pain-relieving medication.
Quarantine – used to keep someone who might have been exposed to COVID-19 away from others. Quarantine helps prevent the spread of disease that can occur before a person knows they are sick. People in quarantine should stay home, separate themselves from others, monitor their health, and follow directions from their state or local health department. The quarantine period is 14-days after the last date of exposure.
Additional resources:
- MDH – Decision Tree for Schools
- MDH – What to do when waiting for results
- MDH – Minnesota testing locations
- MDH – What to do if you have COVID-19
- MDH – Information for Confirmed Cases and Contacts
- MDH – What to do if you have had close contact with a person with COVID-19
- MDH – Close Contact Guidance
- MDH – When can I return to work if someone in my household is sick with COVID-19
- MDH – Guidance for those who are sick or caring for someone who is sick
- CDC – Quarantine vs. Isolation
- CDC – Isolation Details
- CDC – Quarantine Details
- CDC – Caring for Someone Who is Sick
Looking for more information?
Continue to monitor this website and frequently asked questions, or you may email mlcinfo@mlc-wels.edu.
[DISCLAIMER]
The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19, has been identified as a worldwide pandemic by the World Health Organization. At present, there is no vaccine to prevent a person from contracting COVID-19 and no standardized, effective treatment for those who are infected. While it is true that the majority of people who are infected with coronavirus are asymptomatic or suffer only mild symptoms, some infected persons have extremely negative health outcomes, including long-term respiratory damage and/or death. The coronavirus is highly contagious and is believed to spread mainly from person-to-person via respiratory droplets.
As a result, federal, state, and local governments and federal and state health agencies recommend social distancing and have, in many locations, prohibited or dramatically limited the congregation of groups of people. The public health response continues to evolve as we learn more about the virus and the disease it causes.
Martin Luther College (MLC) takes the safety and well-being of its students, faculty, staff, children of families served, visitors, contractors who serve MLC, and our community seriously. We are called to love our neighbors. Accordingly, MLC has put in place a number of preventative measures to attempt to reduce the spread of COVID-19; however, MLC cannot guarantee that you or others in your family will not come into contact with the coronavirus or with someone infected with the virus while you are on campus or attending/participating in an MLC sponsored event. Likewise, we cannot guarantee that you will not become infected with COVID-19.
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