By The Scene staff
St. Louis Community College faculty and staff received an email notice Friday evening that a Forest Park employee had tested positive for the coronavirus, which causes the respiratory disease COVID-19.
The employee reported the test result to the STLCC Incident Response Team earlier that day, according to the email.
“The individual is quarantined off-campus,” it read. “The areas they worked in have been scheduled for deep cleaning. Individual employees who were in close contact with the positive employee, that we are aware of, have been notified by IRT. Those individuals will be required to self-isolate until cleared to return by a medical professional.”
The email stated that others who worked in six specific locations at Forest Park on June 22 and came into close contact (less than 6 feet) with another employee for more than 15 minutes may also need to self-isolate. The locations include the engineering office, IT department warehouse building, loading dock, buildings and grounds office and men’s and women’s restrooms on the O and M levels of Towers D and E.
Employees who meet the above criteria are advised to contact their supervisors and notify the Incident Response Team at covid19@stlcc.edu.
On March 23, STLCC announced that a Florissant Valley student had tested positive for the coronavirus. On April 1, news came that two more students, one from Forest Park and one from the Meramec campus, had “self-reported” either a positive test or exposure.
STLCC students got an extended spring break from March 16-29 before returning to school with classes moved online. Campuses have been largely closed since that time, except for essential employees and others needing access for limited periods of time.
“As a reminder, it is College policy for everyone to maintain social distancing of 6-feet, even when wearing a face covering, in order to minimize the risk of infection,” Friday’s email stated. “Employees working both on campus and at home should monitor for potential symptoms of COVID-19.Those who are working on campus must complete the health screening form every morning.”
COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic on March 11. There were 10,044,731 confirmed cases as of Sunday, according to a database maintained by Johns Hopkins University & Medicine. That includes 2,531,733 in the United States. Nearly 500,000 people have died from the disease worldwide.