How to Report Symptoms or a Positive COVID Test

Students: If you feel like you’re experiencing any COVID symptoms, it’s best to report them through Dr. Chat Bot immediately. Even if you think your symptoms might be something else, like a cold or seasonal congestion/allergies, it’s still important to tell University health professionals and contact tracers what you are experiencing—they always want to receive more, not less, information.

Faculty and staff: Please follow these health screening instructions if you are experiencing symptoms.

Common COVID symptoms include:

• Temperature of 100 °F (37.8 °C) or higher
• Chills
• Muscle or body aches
• Fatigue
• Headache
• Congestion or runny nose
• Sore throat
• Loss of taste or smell
• Loss of appetite
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea

• Contact your supervisor. (Note: You do not need to contact University Health Service.)
• Stay home and monitor symptoms. If you are experiencing severe symptoms, call your primary care physician (PCP) or seek medical care.
• Non-URMC employees: If a non-clinical employee receives a positive result from a test performed by their PCP, Urgent Care, or other testing facility outside of the University, they should follow the advice of their PCP.
• URMC employees: The Medical Center has separate guidance on the URMC website for clinical employees.
• Please reference this current isolation guidance for employees.

• If a student tests positive as a result of a test conducted by the University, contact tracing and other follow-up protocols will automatically begin.
• If you test positive through a test performed by your PCP, Urgent Care, or other testing facility outside of the University, please immediately contact University Health Service at (585) 275-2662 to self-report your case.
• Students should reference this isolation and quarantine guidance.

• If a classmate, student, or colleague at the University tests positive for COVID-19 as a result of a test completed through University Health Service (UHS) or Employee Health at the Medical Center, contacting tracing and other follow-up protocols will automatically begin, including the individual’s requirement to immediately isolate.
• If a classmate, student or colleague voluntarily tells you directly they have tested positive, it’s important for the health of the University community that UHS receive this information so that contact tracing and follow-up protocols can be completed. You are encouraged to contact UHS at (585) 275-2662 to make certain that UHS is aware of this positive case. If you are unsure whether or not this individual has been on campus recently, err on the side of caution and contact UHS.
• Importantly, if you learn about a positive case on campus, it is not your responsibility to make further notifications (besides UHS) or initiate any form of contact tracing, regardless of whether you supervise or teach the person who tested positive. This is solely the responsibility of UHS, Employee Health (Medical Center), or appropriate health professionals. However, in cases when an individual shares their own positive-test status with their supervisor, the supervisor may ask for the campus locations (classrooms, offices, labs, etc.) the individual has entered—for 15 minutes or more—within the past 48 hours. This can enable more immediate cleaning and disinfecting of these spaces and surfaces; the supervisor can contact University Facilities at (585) 273-4567, and/or if in a laboratory setting can initiate local cleaning procedures as necessary.