I'm pretty sure here it's protecting workplaces, not workers. If they don't inform me of a student having COVID unless we've been within 6 feet for 15 minutes, and being that close is against the rules and admitting to it gets you in trouble, then presto in-person classes are safe.
1: Winner winner chicken dinner! Ass covering all the way down!
This reminds me of when the school sends out an announcement that a certain grade has X cases of head lice and you need to check your kid. They never say which kid, so can't gamble on it.
Anyway, shaming* little kids because of things they can't control, and that possibly ever their parents who exposed them can't control if they want to keep feeding the kids, seems like a bad reaction too.
* In theory, it's not necessary that disclosure would be followed by shaming, but things is fucked up now.
I don't need to know who. But not knowing that anyone is positive because they presume no exposure is really annoying. And they could certainly disclose more than they do without shaming. (They want the presumption to be party rather than class, so they can Shane the students instead of the university.)
I don't need to know who. But not knowing that anyone is positive because they presume no exposure is really annoying. And they could certainly disclose more than they do without shaming. (They want the presumption to be party rather than class, so they can Shane the students instead of the university.)
I'm guessing "Shane the students" means the students ride off into the sunset, wounded but ready for the next semester.
7: I endorse that interpretation. With luck only once.
Our county had 75 positive tests today. It would be great to know, roughly, who they are and how they got it. College students in bars, an old folks home in a rural part of the county, that homeless camp down by the river?
Unless the university is self-insured (and thus a health care provider) or otherwise is a health care provider, my understanding is that HIPAA doesn't apply. They can (and should) give you this information. My workplace determines anyone who has been in contact with someone with either a positive test or a household contact for more than 15 min or less than 6' (both masked) and gives you a chart to track symptoms for 14 days. You don't get sent home unless you have a positive within your household.
We get updates about employee positivity, but they are mostly cumulative. We are also both self insured and a healthcare provider.
We get informed of positive contacts. Being 8 feet away from someone for 2 hours is presumed not to count as a contact.
12: All these people are wriggling on the hook of semantics. "8ft away for 2hr is not a contact" (presumably indoors) assumes adequate airflow to prevent buildup of virus aerosol particles. That's something that can be measured; in the absence of such detailed (and expensive) measurement, an organization probably has two options:
(a) if you're in the same room as someone who tested positive for more than a few minutes, let you know
(b) get their lawyers to say "oh, it's so complicated, I'm sure it's safe, lemme get Scott Atlas to say it safe!"
And gosh, #b has gotta be less costly to the bottom line.
Are there still schools with the policy that kids change seats every 14 minutes?
This tool - https://mycovidrisk.app/ - will estimate your risk based on zip code, type of activity, and duration.
Good for hours of useless anxiety producing fun.
If we were serious about the pandemic HIPPAA rules would be not apply to it
The common problem, as with many such things, are the invocations of HIPAA by those who haven't actually read the guidelines. The schools are indeed not subject to HIPAA, but those records will often be protected by FERPA. I've had to show the law enforcement guidelines a number of times to hospital employees who seem to think they can't even verify what room a suspect is in.
As I understand it, HIPAA is pretty narrow, in that it established patient rights and doctor/insurance responsibility, but it's not binding if you're not one of those entities. (Which is why "hippa says I can't wear a mask" was extra bullshit.). It's like FERPA that way. It's not like a constitutional right to medical privacy.
I'm with Sand; the reason they don't disclose is so employees don't have to quarantine unless the health department says so and if contact tracing is horrid because of community spread then there's nothing to worry about.
A lot of this is that the last major pandemic was HIV, and so that's the example a lot of people had in mind when they taught and learned about privacy policy for epidemics.
Counter example: when one of my grad students got tested for covid, I got an email from the university letting me know, and telling me that she's not allowed on campus until I get another email from them confirming her negative result.
All this despite the fact that we're in the humanities and grad students can't be on campus without special permission anyway. I haven't seen her in person since March.
Not sure if the same would be true for undergraduates; they mostly aren't in town, so they aren't getting tested through the university process. I guess I'll find out next semester, since we're allowing students back on campus but requiring twice-weekly testing. I'll be on research leave, thank god.
Counter example: when one of my grad students got tested for covid, I got an email from the university letting me know, and telling me that she's not allowed on campus until I get another email from them confirming her negative result.
All this despite the fact that we're in the humanities and grad students can't be on campus without special permission anyway. I haven't seen her in person since March.
Not sure if the same would be true for undergraduates; they mostly aren't in town, so they aren't getting tested through the university process. I guess I'll find out next semester, since we're allowing students back on campus but requiring twice-weekly testing. I'll be on research leave, thank god.
We may have peaked in COVID cases in California at least. New cases per 100,000, 7-day rolling, were at 109 on 12/20 and 12/21 and as of 12/24 had fallen to 100.
And the one member of my extended family who had been inching in the COVID-denial route has contracted it, with mild symptoms. (Probably won't help as the misinformation she shared was in the "it's not that dangerous" vein - those Bakersfield YouTube doctors.)
It's weirdly infuriating when the denialist has a very mild case. I've known several instances of that. I truly don't want their health endangered, but I wish they'd feel bad enough to force a conversion of belief.
My first cousin (once removed) said her brother was in the hospital with covid. He's about my age. I don't know what his politics or covid views are, but she's a "never Trump unless he wins" Republican. Anyway, I've never met them as adults.
I mean, I guess it's likely since the majority of symptomatic cases are mild.
Sorry, could someone please switch the sig name in 27 to mine? (Not my name, but anon-breaking, it was in autocomplete for complex reasons.)