Snow Days: Testing will go on all days as scheduled, except for Tuesdays.  When a snow day (full or partial day) falls on Tuesday, testing will be canceled. If needed, an extra testing period will be held on Wednesday from noon - 1 pm in the Administration Building.

Missed testing or need to re-test:  please go to the next available testing period, or when you will next be on campus if you have a long commute.

Regular testing: If you are on campus weekly, you must get tested each week.  If you are not going to on campus for a week, you may miss a testing week.  You must then get tested the next time you return to campus (i.e., if you normally test on Thursdays and miss a week, you must test on Monday if that is your first day back)

We are updating our Saturday testing times because of changes in shift hours for our overnight technicians and availability of Sunday morning testing.  Testing on Saturday night will now be from 9:00 – 9:30 pm.

*Test return times are usual return times and are not guaranteed.  Tests would not be considered late until early evening on the day of usual return.

+The primary group indicates the group the time is generally intended to serve. We try to limit mixing where possible, so when possible please stick to the appropriate primary group time. However, there is no absolute restriction on attending any of the times identified.

1. All employees and students of Cummings School who are coming to campus must be in our regular surveillance testing program. The intent of the program is to monitor the occurrence of COVID-19 on campus and to reduce the risk of transmission by asymptomatic individuals.
   1. Testing is not intended for diagnosis of symptomatic individuals and is primarily for the purposes of protecting people who may interact with the tested subject (and so become infected if they are asymptomatic and positive for COVID-19).
   2. Symptomatic testing will occur through healthcare providers for individual faculty and students. Symptomatic individuals are not to come to campus for testing.
   3. All faculty, staff, and students coming to campus must be tested weekly, or on the day they come to campus when they come to campus less frequently than once a week. The only exception is contactless pick-up (i.e. picking up mail and leaving).
   4. New staff members must have one negative test at Cummings School before starting regular shifts.
   5. Please e-mail cummingscovid@tufts.edu if you have questions about testing or scheduling your tests when you are not on campus as a regular testing time.
2. Surveillance testing is a PCR-based test on an anterior nasal swab self-collected under observation. Test analysis will be provided by the Broad Institute.
   1. Testing sites will be set up on campus for regular sample collection (see below).
3. Tufts University is covering the cost of all surveillance testing.
4. Employees and students who engage within 6 feet on a regular basis (e.g. clinics and hospitals), teach or learn in larger group settings (>10 people in a room), or who interact directly with students on a regular basis will be tested once per week.
5. Employees who do not regularly interact directly with students and graduate students must have been surveillance tested within one week of coming to campus or be tested on the first (or only) day they come to campus during a week.
   1. Faculty who periodically will engage with students in larger groups or at distances of less than 6 feet will be routinely tested only during periods when they are interacting with students.
   2. You do not need to be tested on weeks when you are not on campus or working in clinics. However, you must be tested on the first day you return to campus.
   3. The only employees who may come to campus without being tested are those who work remotely full-time and are coming for contactless pick-up (i.e. picking up mail and immediately leaving).
6. Communication of test results
   1. Negative test results will be available directly to employees and students, via email.
   2. Employee positive test results will be transmitted directly to Marathon Health, who will contact employees to provide the result and appropriate directions on quarantining, health monitoring, and steps for return to campus. All positive individuals will be required to contact Cummingscovid@tufts.edu for permission to return to campus (see section above for more details).
   3. Student positive results will be transmitted to OEHN. OEHN will contact positive students and provide directions on quarantine, health monitoring, and steps for return to campus. OEHN will also notify Marathon Health of student positives and will notify Cummings School if students are being required to isolate.
   4. Marathon Health will carry out all contact tracing of asymptomatic COVID-19 positive individuals and issue guidance that is in accordance with Cummings School specific procedures outline above. Marathon Health will notify Cummings School of employees and students who are required to quarantine. Follow up will be provided by Cummings School and Tufts University.
   5. Cummings School will ultimately be responsible for approving return to work. Cummings School will not shorten any return to work approvals from healthcare providers but may request longer stay-off-campus periods to align with its practices.
7. Testing details
   1. Testing will be PCR-based, using an anterior nares swab (i.e. swabbing just inside the nostril).
   2. Because it is PCR-based, it will also meet the requirements for release from the MA quarantine.
   3. Turn-around time is 24 hours after samples arrive at the Broad. So, test results from a sample collected during the day on Monday, for example, should be available by Tuesday evening.
   4. You must have an active, undamaged Tufts ID card for the testing—you will register for the test by scanning your card, which will register you in the system and upload the request to The Broad Institute (where the analysis is performed). You will receive an email with your test result if it is negative and a phone call if it is positive. You can expect to hear by the evening of the day following your test results.
8. Testing schedule and location
   1. Sampling will occur at times and locations as posted on our website. (See Cummings COVID-19 Info Hub.)
   2. Testing will be offered in the treadmill room in the large animal hospital for clinical faculty and technicians, diagnostic faculty and technicians, and for V21 students.
   3. Testing will be offered in the KCR in the Admin Building for V22, V23, V24, graduate students, and other faculty and staff.
   4. Students and employees at Tufts at Tech will be tested at the Grafton campus.
   5. Students on rotation at Tufts VETS and TVFS (Woodstock) will be provided time to get tested on the Grafton campus.
   6. Employees at Tufts Veterinary Field Service will be tested on-site at the Woodstock campus.
   7. Students on externship will be tested the week prior to the externship experience and on return.
   8. Snow days: If a snow day falls on Monday or Thursday, normal testing will be offered. If a snow day falls on a Tuesday, testing will be canceled; individuals should come on the next available testing day. If a snow day falls on a Saturday or Wednesday, the special testing offered in the hospital will remain in effect.
9. Use of antibody screening to determine population-based screening of the campus community for previous exposure (i.e. to assess “herd immunity”) may be instituted once a commercially available, properly validated antibody test is available. The purpose would be to assess trends in overall exposure of the campus population. This may be done either by random sampling of a subset of employees and students as a measure of exposure control or may be complete population sampling as indicated.
10. Use of antibody testing to determine prior exposure in an individual and as a guide to assess risk and management will only be implemented once it has been determined that an appropriately sensitive and specific test is available, and/or once it has been determined that presence of antibodies provides disease protection. Currently, available antibody tests are not sufficiently validated to be of use on an individual basis.

If you are exposed through close contact to COVID-19 off-campus, you will need to quarantine for 14 days and stay off campus, unless you follow the specific testing protocol outlined below. Please inform us through the cummingscovid@tufts.edu email if you have exposure to COVID-19 on or off campus.

Tufts University has established specific requirements for return to campus. You should be tested as soon as possible after being exposed. You must also be tested on Day 6 or 7 on campus by drive-through testing and have a negative test to be approved for return to campus on day 8. We will also ask you to be tested again around Day 10 post-exposure

If you are permitted to return to campus on Day 8, you must take your temperature daily and monitor for symptoms until Day 14. If you develop a fever, chills, or other symptoms, stay home and email cummingscovid@tufts.edu

Drive-Through Testing

Drive-through testing is only available for individuals on quarantine and/or who have been directed to access the service. You cannot go through our regular testing when you are on quarantine, unless you have been cleared as an essential worker.  If you are on quarantine, please email cummingscovid@tufts.edu and they will provide directions for drive-through testing that are relevant to your situation.

Drive-through testing is not to be used for travel-related quarantine and testing requirements. It is only for individuals with known exposure to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 or when directed through cummingscovid@tufts.edu.

We are still planning on holding spring break this year. We feel it is important for the health of our students, and our faculty and staff.

We ask that you not engage in any strictly vacation travel (e.g. going to Florida beaches) over the break—and especially that you not engage in any large group activities. If you do intend to engage in vacation travel outside Massachusetts over the break, you should email cummingscovid@tufts.edu for specific guidance on returning to campus.

We recognize that traveling to visit family is important and that many of you will do this. However, when you visit family who are not part of your core household or who you do not see on a regular basis, it is considered a high-risk activity as most people do not wear masks and social distance when inside under these circumstances. (The majority of positive cases in Massachusetts are family transmission.) Therefore, traveling out of state and spending time with non-household members indoors (e.g., staying with family or friends) will result in a requirement for two negative tests prior to return to campus. Depending on the exact situation and timing, tests must spread over 3 to 7 days, with the second test typically at least 5 days, and preferably 6 to 7 days, after return to Massachusetts.

To facilitate this, all pre-clinical and graduate programs will be remote the week after spring break.

All students are asked to be back in Massachusetts and in their usual residence by the evening of Sunday, March 21, and must be back no later than Monday, March 22. If you have left the state, you will require one negative test to come out of the Massachusetts quarantine (i.e. Monday, March 22). Your second negative test should be no earlier than Thursday, March 25 and no later than one day before you are required to return to campus (leaving enough time for the test result to get back).

Faculty and staff are expected to follow a similar testing regimen for return to campus if they leave Massachusetts and stay with non-household members or engage in other high-risk activities. Email cummingscovid@tufts.edu for specific guidance.

All employees and students must complete the Tufts Daily Health Check online before coming to work.

All employees and students are expected to take their temperature twice a day. If their temperature is above 100.0, they should stay home and monitor unless there is an obvious, non-illness related explanation (including having a high normal range). A temperature of 100.4 is considered a fever and always requires staying home for a minimum of 48 hours after resolution of the fever. All fevers should be reported as illness.

All individuals normally coming to campus who are sick or unwell for any reason are required to stay at home or to leave the workplace immediately.

Anyone who is sick or unwell should email cummingscovid@tufts.edu for specific guidance and be cleared to return to work or school.

In addition, you must notify the appropriate supervisor that you will not be coming to campus:

• DVM students should notify the Office of Academic Affairs. Fourth-year students should also notify their rotation director.
• Graduate students should notify the Graduate Programs Manager and their Graduate Program Director. 
• Staff should notify their immediate supervisor
• Faculty should notify their department chair 

• When you email cummingcovid@tufts.edu, please provide the following information:
  • • Summary of symptoms
      • What they are
      • When they started
    • Work or school history (if relevant)
      • Where you work or what academic program and year are you in?
      • When were you last on campus?
      • When are you scheduled to return to campus (day, time)?
    • History
      • What was your physical location(s) when on campus in the 48 hours before you became sick?
      • In the 7-14 days preceding illness, did you engage in any group activities?
      • Did you travel in the last 14 days? Is yes, where did you go?
      • Did you interact with anyone who was sick, had suspected COVID-19, or was diagnosed with COVID-19?
      • Do you share living quarters with anyone else from the Cummings community?

• • Contacts
    • • Please make a note of the names of anyone in the Cummings community who met the following criteria, through on-campus or off-campus interactions, as you may be asked to provide this information at a later date:
        • spent more than 10-15 consecutive minutes within 6 ft, even while wearing masks
        • more than 5 minutes within 6 ft, while not wearing masks. This is for internal use only.
        • Was in direct physical contact with you.
        • Other general contacts, including those working in a confined space or room with the individual for greater than 60 minutes (even if not within six feet), should also be reported

• What will happen next?
  • When appropriate, you will be asked to contact your PCP or an urgent care center. We may ask you to see if you can get tested.
    • If you can get tested, please ask for a PCR-based test because an antigen-based test has too high a false negative rate to rule-out COVID-19. However, if a rapid antigen test is positive, it is considered diagnostic. With a negative antigen test and appropriate symptoms, we will still consider you a possible or probably COVID-19 case.
  • If it is determined that you do not have COVID-19 by your healthcare provider, through appropriate diagnostic testing, or because of the course of symptoms, we will ask you to stay home until you have been symptom-free for 24 h in cases of non-flu like/non-respiratory illness, and at least 48 h in cases of flu-like illness or any illness with a respiratory component (cough, runny nose, etc). If disease is conclusively diagnosed and is not contagious, you may return to work in accordance with the guidance of your health care provider.
  • If you are determined to have COVID-19 or probably or possibly have COVID-19, we will follow the CDC guidelines or those of your healthcare provider (whichever are stricter). This is outlined in the next section

General Guidance

• Remember you must stay home if you are sick until it has been confirmed to be non-contagious and you have permission to return to work from a healthcare provider (if relevant) and from Cummings School.
• The symptoms of COVID-19 are varied and are easily mistaken for allergies, a common cold, and other viral infections. Please be extra cautious when sick. We do not want other people to get sick with a non-COVID-19 disease, which would still require them to stay off campus.
• Symptoms of COVID-19 include, but are not limited to:
  • Fever
  • Cough
  • Tiredness
  • Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
  • Muscle aches
  • Chills
  • Sore throat
  • Runny nose
  • Loss of taste or smell
  • Headache
  • Chest pain

• Any employee or student testing positive is asked to report the positive test to cummingscovid@tufts.edu., and provide all the information outlined in the previous section for when you are ill.
  • Employees should also report their absences to their supervisor
  • Students must inform the relevant Office of Academic Affairs or the Graduate Program manager.
• Anyone diagnosed with COVID-19 is expected to cooperate fully with the Massachusetts Community Tracing Collaborative.
• Employees and students should follow all guidelines of their health care provider (HCP) and should communicate the guidelines provided by their HCP to the school.
• Any of the above scenarios will result in a stay-off-campus request of ten days, with at least 24 h of no fever (without fever-reducing medication), and markedly improved symptoms in accordance with the CDC and MA DPH guidelines.
• Return to Campus: All employees and students who have been quarantined or asked to stay off campus must receive permission from Cummings School before returning to campus.

If anyone with confirmed or probable COVID-19 is on campus, we will carry out contact tracing. Contact tracing for positive tests through our on-campus testing will have contact tracing by Marathon Health (see below). All other contact tracing (probably COVID-19; positive symptomatic) will be carried out on-campus by OEHN (and/or other appointed individuals). This is why we ask for the information above when you are sick. Please note that the Department of Public Health may do additional contact tracing. We do not do contact tracing for off-campus individuals.

In order for proper contact tracing, it is important that you provide as accurate information as possible. 

In assessing the steps required following close contact, it is important that we have the details.

• Close contact is defined as being within 6 feet for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or longer over 24 hours (CDC and MA DPH guidelines) of someone with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 or a positive diagnostic test (symptomatic or asymptomatic). The period for determining close contact is 48 hours prior to symptom or, if asymptomatic, 48 hours prior to a positive test.
• If surgical, procedure, or N95 masks and eye protection (i.e. full healthcare PPE) were worn, the interaction will not be considered a close contact based on distance.
• Within the hospital, if cloth masks or non-medical grade (NMG) disposable masks were worn at the time and all other protocols were followed, it will not be considered a close contact for the purpose of issuing stay-off -campus requests.

The following guidelines are in place related to close contact with a case. A case is defined as anyone with probable COVID-19, symptomatic positive for COVID-19, or asymptomatic positive for COVID-19. This includes co-workers, employees, family members, friends, roommates, or any other person in your life with whom you may have close contact (as defined above).

• Please note that if someone in your life has close contact with a case outside of your presence, as long as that the person in your life remains asymptomatic and does not test positive, you are not required to stay-off campus.
• For employees or students not working in our clinics and hospitals, close contacts of highly probable COVID-19 cases, including employees and students (DVM or graduate), will be asked to stay-off campus and follow all MA and DPH isolation and quarantine guidelines.
• In our clinics and hospitals, CDC and MA guidelines for essential workers in a veterinary clinic will apply, as modified below:

• • MA and CDC Guidance states that critical workers, like veterinarians and their staff, can be permitted to continue to workfollowing a potential exposure to COVID-19, provided they remain asymptomatic and additional precautions are implemented to protect them and the workplace.
  • If someone was in close contact (time and distance) with a case and either party was not wearing appropriate PPE (as per our guidelines, which include cloth or NMG disposable masks), there was direct physical and unprotected contact, or the case coughed or sneezed on the contact, then the contact will be asked to stay off campus for 14 days and will be expected to follow MA quarantine guidelines.
    • This could be an on-campus or an off-campus contact.
  • If close contacts in the hospitals or clinics, based on time and physical distance, were following all of our PPE and behavior guidelines at the time, they will not be asked to stay off campus following close contact as long as they are asymptomatic and following our regular on-campus testing protocol.
    • This is consistent with the CDC and MA guidelines for veterinarians and staff working in a veterinary clinic.
• At any time, an order from a healthcare provider or the Department of Public Health can override our guidelines and require someone to self-quarantine.
• To summarize, this means that we will not be automatically issuing stay-off-campus requests to hospital and clinic employees and fourth-year students who meet the time and distance requirements for close contacts, but were following our PPE guidelines, continue to follow all of our guidelines, are asymptomatic, and have regular testing.

• If someone is quarantining in your house, they need to comply with the MA requirements and CDC guidelines for quarantine. If collectively you cannot comply with the quarantine guidelines within the house (i.e. you cannot quarantine from the person who traveled), then you will also need to quarantine to be in compliance with MA state guidelines
• If you can stay separate from them in the house or apartment (you have not been in close contact with them since they have been put in quarantine, and you can avoid close contact in the house), then we will not require you to stay off campus.
• Guidelines to avoid close contact include:
  • Individual in quarantine stays in a separate bedroom.
  • You maintain 6 feet of physical distance at all times—and wear masks in the house.
  • You do not share food or utensils. The quarantining individual should not do the cooking or serving. You should not eat together. Use gloves to handle their dishes.
  • Keep windows open to increase airflow if possible
  • Separate bathroom is preferred. If you must share, bathroom is to be cleaned and disinfected after use by the quarantining person.
  • Avoid handling or sharing pets between the quarantining and non-quarantining individual.
  • Wash hands often, clean high-touch surfaces, etc.