Please see below for Frequently Asked Questions about COVID-19 regarding quarantine and isolation.
Students who test positive for COVID-19, whether vaccinated or not, should immediately notify the Contact Tracing Team at contacttracing@drake.edu.
Employees who test positive for COVID-19, whether vaccinated or not, should immediately notify their supervisor and Environmental Health and Safety via Chris Nickell, chris.nickell@drake.edu.
Those who test positive for COVID-19, or are experiencing unexplained COVID-19 symptoms, will be contacted by a member of Drake’s contact tracing team. These calls will largely come from 515-271-2353, so please answer if you receive a call from this number or any number starting with the digits 515-271. The primary goal of the contact tracing team is to ensure you have the information you need, that our isolation protocols are followed, and any contacts are identified quickly.
For unvaccinated individuals who are identified as contacts, the contact tracing team will promptly reach out to inform of their need to quarantine. A contact is defined as an unvaccinated individual who was within six feet of an infected person for a minimum of 15 minutes, regardless of face covering usage.
Quarantine separates and restricts the movement of people who have been exposed to COVID-19 until it can be determined whether they have been infected. Isolation separates those who have tested positive for COVID-19 from all others.
Unvaccinated individuals who are a primary contact with a known positive individual will need to quarantine. A primary contact is defined as someone who was within six feet of an infected individual for a minimum of 15 minutes during an exposure event, regardless of face covering usage. For the purposes of this definition, organized athletic activities and in-person academic activities are considered to be an exposure event when a person was within six feet of an infected individual for a minimum of 15 minutes over the course of that event.
If you are fully vaccinated and have been a close contact of someone who has tested positive, no quarantine is required. However, you are encouraged to get tested 3–5 days after exposure and the University will provide this test at no cost to exposed students and employees.
Seven to 10 days. If an unvaccinated individual has been identified as a primary contact of an infected person, they will be required to quarantine for 10 days from the last date of exposure. Confirmed contacts are encouraged to obtain a COVID-19 test five days or later before their quarantine end date. Testing negative will reduce the duration of quarantine by a maximum of three days. We will only consider test results administered by the University, which are provided at no charge.
Those who have a confirmed case of COVID-19 will be required to isolate until all the recovery criteria are met. For symptomatic confirmed cases, this means at least 10 days have passed since symptoms began, the person has been fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication, and all other symptoms have improved. For asymptomatic confirmed cases, 10 days must pass since the positive test was taken. Environmental Health and Safety will evaluate each case and may require the isolation period to extend beyond 10 days based on symptoms.
Yes. Quarantine duration can be shortened by a maximum of three days with a negative test that is conducted five days or later before their quarantine end date. We will only consider test results administered by the University. Details regarding testing are provided to all students as they enter quarantine.
Students in quarantine are eligible to receive a free COVID-19 test on campus five days or later before their quarantine end date. The quarantine duration can be shortened by a maximum of three days with a negative test result. Details regarding testing are provided to all students as they enter quarantine.
Those who are required to quarantine must abide by the following:
Those who are required to isolate must abide by the following:
Residential students who test positive for COVID-19 will be relocated to a designated residence hall, other Drake provided housing, or a medical facility, as appropriate. They will also have the option to return home for the isolation period.
Rooms in the designated isolation residence hall or Drake property are equipped with a bed, lamp, microwave, refrigerator, and Wi-Fi.
Meals will be delivered three times each day to students living in an isolation room.
A student who must isolate should plan to bring the following items with them to their temporary isolation room:
Drake University has assembled a team that will provide oversight for residential students who test positive for COVID-19 or experience symptoms consistent with the coronavirus.
Medical personnel will not live on site or see patients in the residence halls. Students will be monitored daily through virtual assessments.
No live-in staff member will be present within the designated residence hall or Drake property. The area is secured and Drake Public Safety will make multiple security checks each day. If something is needed for their room, the residents are expected to email housing@drake.edu and not leave their assigned housing.
No. The residence hall and campus properties designated for this purpose will only be made available to on-campus residential students who need to isolate.
Residential students in isolation must stay in their designated residence hall or Drake property except for medical reasons. All meals will be delivered to the student and outreach will occur daily to check on the student’s condition.
Per current CDC guidelines, vaccinated employees who have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 may return to work as long as no COVID-19 symptoms are present but are encouraged to obtain a COVID-19 test three days after the exposure as directed by Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS). Tests administered by Drake EHS will be provided to the employee at no cost. For information regarding testing contact Chris Nickell, director of environmental health and safety, at chris.nickell@drake.edu.
Unvaccinated employees who have been in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 will be required to not come to work for up to ten full calendar days from the last date of exposure. A COVID-19 test may be completed five days or later before their quarantine end date. If that test is negative, then the employee may return after day seven. If no test is conducted, the employee may return after day ten. Tests administered by the University will be provided to the employee at no cost. The employee is expected to notify their supervisor immediately and also notify Chris Nickell at chris.nickell@drake.edu.
In the event of a positive test for either vaccinated or unvaccinated employees, the employee will not report to work for at least ten, full calendar days from date of symptom onset, or the date of the positive test if no symptoms are present. If the employee continues to have symptoms, including a fever, beyond ten calendar days, the employee will need to be fever-free for more than 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications before returning to campus. In some situations (such as after extended hospitalization), a physician’s note returning the employee to work may be required. The employee is expected to notify their supervisor immediately of their positive result and also notify Chris Nickell at chris.nickell@drake.edu. The best way to avoid serious illness or hospitalization due to COVID-19 is to get vaccinated.
