Testing and Trinity Health Information
August 6, 2020
Dear Colleagues,
I’m writing to provide additional details about the testing process for employees. We are planning on beginning on-campus testing for asymptomatic employees later in August, and we will continue weekly testing through the first few weeks of the semester. This testing is another method of keeping our community as safe and healthy as possible and will be conducted by the Broad Institute. We will share information about specific days and times, test registration and obtaining results as we confirm those details.
In order to initiate the testing, the Broad Institute will need the name, date of birth and home zip code for each employee to authenticate them and will also require their primary phone number and email address for communicating test results. If you have a concern about the sharing of that information for testing purposes, please contact me.
Attached are two documents for employees to review – the Testing Consent for the Broad Institute and the Trinity Employee Community Commitment that outlines protocols we all need to follow to keep our campus as safe and as possible. Attestations through our system will be required for these documents and employees will soon receive a link to do so, so it isn’t necessary to sign and return these documents to me. For now, please review the documents and let me know if you have any questions.
Please note this testing is for asymptomatic employees. If employees are experiencing symptoms that may be related to COVID-19 they should contact their health care provider to seek a COVID-19 diagnostic test as soon as possible, and not come to campus. If employees develop symptoms at work, they must immediately leave campus without coming into contact with supervisors or coworkers, then notify their supervisors once they arrive at a safe off-campus location.
Employees working regularly on campus will be tested each week and regular weekly testing will continue for the first weeks of the semester. If the prevalence of infections on campus remains low, we will adjust the testing cadence to once every other week for employees.
Employees who are working remotely do not need to participate in regular on-campus weekly testing, but must obtain a negative COVID-19 PCR test result 5-7 days before coming to campus. Employees who are working remotely may come to campus to be tested, then leave campus and return when a negative result is received, or they may obtain a test closer to their home and come to campus after receiving a negative test result. Trinity will cover the cost of testing performed on campus by The Broad Institute. If employees receive a test elsewhere, they will incur a cost.
We are sending a lot of information, but we feel it’s best to overcommunicate in these circumstances. Here are some additional reminders:
- Employees must report a positive COVID-19 test to Human Resources so that contact tracing can be conducted and health instructions can be given to coworkers.
- Employees are required to follow symptom checking and all other health and safety requirements.
- Please be mindful of the risk of infection when participating in events outside of work, as outlined in the Trinity Community Commitment.
- Chartwells, ABM, Barnes and Noble and the Child Care Center are required to ensure their employees are symptom free, and tested according to the Broad plan for Trinity.
- All other Trinity partners are required to ensure their employees are symptom free, and adhere to all state, local and Trinity health and safety protocols.
Again, we will share additional information including specific days and times, test registration and obtaining results as we confirm those details. Please reach out to me if you have questions or concerns. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Michelle Cabral
Assistant Vice President for Human Resources
