COVID-19 Updates and Guidance > Guidance > Health & Safety Practices > Public Health Measures

Public Health Measures

​From the start of the pandemic, DePaul has based our actions on guidance from the Chicago Department of P​ublic Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This includes significant investments the university made to improve air quality and to promote the use of face masks and hand sanitizer. 

While some aspects of DePaul's planning for fall will evolve along with public health guidance, the following public health measures are currently in place and are expected to remain in place when larger numbers of students, faculty and staff return.

All HVAC filters in DePaul-owned buildings have been upgraded from filters with a Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value of eight to a MERV rating of 13 to better mitigate the spread of particles.

For a minimum of two hours before and two hours after each building's hours of operation, fan systems circulate, dilute and filter indoor air flow. Buildings with automated HVAC systems are programmed to increase the amount of fresh, outside air brought into the building by a factor of two whenever possible.

The airflow in the Holtschneider Performance Center's practice rooms has been increased by an additional 100 cubic feet per minute at a minimum. This is due to the size of the rooms and because some students may not be able to wear a mask when practicing, depending on their instrument.

Elevator buttons, handrails and other high-touch surfaces will be cleaned as often as feasible. Facility Operations will provide door wedges and/or remove any doors (except fire doors) in office suites to eliminate unnecessary high-touch surfaces. Units will be encouraged to prop open entry doors when and where possible during business hours to reduce hardware touch points. Kitchen and break rooms will be cleaned each night by building cleaning crews. Restrooms will be cleaned several times each day.

DePaul installed 700 hand sanitizer stations on campus. Each station is fitted with a one-gallon bottle of World Health Organization-formula liquid hand sanitizer.

The stations include an integrated multi-fold paper towel holder. People can put one or two pumps of the liquid hand sanitizer on a paper towel and then use the saturated paper towel to effectively disinfect their immediate working area. Paper towels and hand sanitizer stations will be checked at least daily and restocked as needed.

While students, faculty and staff are expected to provide their own face masks, free face masks are readily available on campus for times when people occasionally forget theirs. Free disposable mask distribution boxes have been mounted in a dozen public locations across both campuses.

Plexiglass shields have been installed at all front-line reception and intake desks, and front-facing information and work counters.

Elevator touchpoints are disinfected regularly and exhaust fans circulate and refresh air in elevators. DePaul upgraded elevators on both campuses with new fans that contain UV-C light technology aimed at supplying disinfected breathing air into the elevator cabs.

Anyone using an elevator is required to keep a face mask on at all times and stand apart as much as possible. Talking should be avoided. Please use a key, shirt tail, sleeve or clean tissue to push elevator floor buttons. Upon reaching your destination floor, wash your hands or use hand sanitizer. If you must sneeze or cough, keep your face mask in place.