Non-Residential and Residential Congregate Settings: Institutes of Higher Education
Under Title 17, Section 2500, California Code of Regulations all suspected outbreaks are reportable.
IHE Non-Residential Congregate Settings
At least 3 laboratory-confirmed cases with symptomatic or asymptomatic COVID-19 infection within a 14-day period in a group* with members on campus who are epidemiologically linked, do not share a household, and are not a close contact of each other outside of the campus. Epidemiological links require cases to be present in the same setting during the same time period while infectious.
*Groups include persons that share common membership, e.g., social organization; athletic teams, sports and recreation clubs; academic cohort; workplace on campus.
IHE Residential Congregate Settings
At least 3 laboratory-confirmed cases with symptomatic or asymptomatic COVID-19 infection with onset within a 14-day period, who live within the same dwelling or multiple dwellings that share a common area.
* Epidemiologically linked cases are those that were present at some point in the same setting at the same time while one or more cases were infectious; OR a member of a risk group as defined by public health during an outbreak. This may include persons who share a defined physical space in the dwelling indicating a higher likelihood of linked spread of disease than sporadic transmission from the community.
*Includes on- and off-campus residential settings where groups of IHE students or staff reside, e.g., campus housing, Greek organization residential housing
Investigation can be conducted over the phone.
The frequency of follow-up with the facility for outbreak updates will be at least weekly, but more frequently as needed and determined by the Outbreak Management Branch (OMB).
Complete COVID-19 Education Sector Outbreak Form at the conclusion of the investigation (See Report Forms)
Confirmed COVID-19: A patient with a positive SARS-CoV-2 viral (molecular or antigen) test.
Presumed COVID-19: A patient with clinically compatible symptoms of COVID-19 and no clear alternate diagnosis with/without exposure history. This presumptive clinical diagnosis is used when the provider has a high index of suspicion that a patient has COVID-19.
Management of Cases (IHE Employees/Staff, Students)
A contact is a person with exposure to a confirmed case of COVID-19 during the period from 48 hours before symptom onset until the case meets criteria for discontinuing home isolation (See Home Isolation Instructions). For asymptomatic cases, the date of collection of the specimen that was positive for SARS-CoV-2 can be used in place of symptom onset.
Exposures are defined as follows:
An individual is considered to have been exposed (close contact) to a case during the infectious period if they shared the same indoor airspace at the IHE with the infected person for 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period (this definition of shared indoor airspace should be applied to classrooms, offices, and other similar-sized spaces). For large indoor airspaces (e.g., dining halls, lecture halls, auditoriums), those considered exposed may be limited to 1) those in a pre-defined or identifiable group (e.g., teammates, club members, cohort, etc.) or 2) those within 6 feet of the infected person for 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period. NOTE: persons with an outdoor exposure at the IHE are not considered close contacts.
Refer to the IHE COVID-19 Exposure Management Plan for further details and see also Instructions for Close Contacts.
Management of Contacts (IHE Staff/Employee and Students)