March 27, 2020
On Friday, March 27, DePaul University received notification that a staff member was being treated for COVID-19. The staff member works in DePaul Central at the Lincoln Park Campus in Schmitt Academic Center, Room 101, and was last in the office on Tuesday, March 17. At this time, the university is not aware when the individual began experiencing symptoms. The university is sanitizing and disinfecting the office this evening.
While DePaul has limited information and the risk of exposure to you is difficult to determine, faculty, staff, and students are being informed out of an abundance of caution. The DePaul Central office was open for student walk-ins through March 17. If you were present in the DePaul Central Lincoln Park Campus office between March 13 and March 17, please consider the Chicago Department of Public Health's (CDPH) recommendations for people who have had close contact with individuals who have tested positive. CDPH's advice is to stay home and monitor your symptoms for 14 days from the time of exposure. Depending on when you may have visited this office, the exposure could have occurred between March 13 and March 17 and you may need to monitor your symptoms up until March 31. Visit
https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/covid-19/home.html for more information.
Additional notifications have been made to DePaul employees based on contacts the staff member may have had.
If you begin to experience symptoms including fever, cough and difficulty breathing, call your healthcare provider. You may also reach out to the CDPH's call center at 312-746-4835 or
coronavirus@chicago.gov with questions. Phone lines are currently staffed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week.
Please keep in mind, it is our responsibility, as directed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to maintain the privacy and anonymity of those individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 and those who may be part of any contact investigation. Please remember to honor this commitment to privacy for those who contract the virus.
As a reminder, please work to minimize the spread of any infectious disease, including COVID-19 and influenza. The CDC recommends the following:
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
- Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol if soap and water are not available.
Please visit
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html for more information about COVID-19. DePaul is committed to the health and well-being of our campus community. University resources are available to assist you during these uncertain times. DePaul's COVID-19 Updates and Guidance website
go.depaul.edu/covid has useful news from the university on COVID-19. The site's
Resources page details instructions for reporting cases of COVID-19, guidance for accessing mental health support and more. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact
hpw@depaul.edu.