COVID-19 STATUS UPDATE

Details about Mercyhurst COVID-19 active positive cases and student quarantine are provided. These cases involve campus exposures that have been directly reported to the university or have been identified through contact tracing or linkage of students/employees to community testing resources. Specific information is limited to protect health privacy, but it is essential to keep the Mercyhurst community informed. This information will be updated daily after notification, review, and confirmation by the Rapid Response Team.

Last Updated: April 16, 2021, 3:45 p.m.

New Positive Cases by Day

Important Definitions

Active Positive Case

An active positive case is an individual who appears to meet the criteria defined by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and adopted by the CDC or has been identified as such by the Erie County Department of Health or other applicable county or state health department.

Campus Exposure

Under an April 15, 2020, Pennsylvania Department of Health Order, actions must be taken if the university was exposed to a Probable or Confirmed case. Campus Exposure will be determined to have occurred when an individual with a Probable or Confirmed case was physically present on a university campus or in a university-occupied building within two days prior to illness onset (or, for asymptomatic individuals, two days prior to positive specimen collection). Mercyhurst reports any cases suspected to be positive to the Erie County Department of Health, which makes the official designation of a Probable or Confirmed case.

Close Contact

A Close Contact is defined as any individual who was within 6 feet of an infected person (Identified, Probable, or Confirmed) for at least 15 minutes starting from two days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic individuals, two days prior to positive specimen collection) until the time the individual is isolated. It may also include an individual who had unprotected Direct Contact with infectious secretions or excretions of the person with Confirmed COVID-19 in the same time periods listed above. Close or direct contacts will be considered “exposed." Presence or absence of mask is not determinative of status as a Close Contact. 

Isolation

Isolation keeps someone who is currently ill with COVID-19, or someone who tested positive for it even though no symptoms are present, away from others even in their own home. It serves much of the same function as quarantine. The time frame for remaining in isolation is determined by current CDC guidance for number of days considered, along with the degree to which fever and other symptoms have resolved.

Quarantine

Quarantine refers to the practice of separating individuals who have had close contact with someone with COVID-19 to determine if they develop symptoms or test positive for the disease. Quarantine also reduces the risk of spreading the disease. The time frame for self-quarantine is determined by assessing the last day of exposure to a patient with COVID-19, to ensure the contacts do not get sick themselves and spread the virus to others. Length of quarantine is consistent with Erie County Department of Health policy.

Important Note

The information on this page focuses on active positive cases involving a campus exposure that have been directly reported to the university or have been identified through contact tracing or linkage of students/employees to community testing resources. All data above represents the best information known at the time of posting.  The information provided should not be relied on to determine risk of exposure on campus at any given time, as asymptomatic cases are common, accurate reporting requires dependence on self-reporting, and the data is backwards-facing for a period of time that has already passed. Active positive cases involving a campus exposure are being managed in accordance with the university's policies and procedures; for more information, please review our Policies and Procedures webpage. At any given time, Mercyhurst employees might be quarantining off campus upon advice from their own medical providers or as required under university policy.