College health centers battle campus COVID

There was a time when answering calls to Sacred Heart University’s student health services department was easy.

Calls came in gradually, and staff, including Dr.

Betsy Clachko, medical director of student health services at SHU, could usually spend a few minutes chatting with a student or parent about their health concerns.

But this school year, amid

the COVID-19 pandemic, has been much different.

“There was one week in September where we had over 3,000 phone calls in our office alone, which is just crazy,” Clachko said.

Last month, she said there was a 70 percent increase in contacts — including calls, telehealth and in-person visits — from September 2019. Most of it was COVIDrelated, including students with potential symptoms and parents concerned about whether their children were safe.

It’s reached the point where people need to make an appointment just to have a phone conversation with health services staff, Clachko said. If someone calls with a question that requires an involved discussion, she said the person is given a time to call back.

“We’ve changed how we operate here,” she said. “We’ve stopped walk-in visits. We basically don’t have awaiting room any more. Everything is by appointment.”

College health officials like Clachko have seen their roles drastically change in the past year and they are now at the center of helping to prevent, treat and mitigate the spread of the coronavirus on campuses.

At the University of Connecticut, Ellysa Eror, medical director of student health and wellness, said telephone calls and telehealth visits have increased “dramatically” due to the pandemic.

Like SHU, UConn’s health services program has changed its office procedures in light of COVID-19.

“We created a separate patient care site to evaluate, test, and treat students with COVID-like symptoms in an environment that is safe for both them and our staff,” Eror said. “All students are pre-screened before coming in for in-person visits and everyone has a temperature check when they enter the building. Our work spaces and patient care areas are all physically distanced and everyone is required to wear a face mask or covering.”

Eror said her program is still offering everything it did pre-COVID — including annual preventive exams and immunizations — and now needs to incorporate pandemic-related services, such as testing and education, into its repertoire. She said, particularly in the beginning, there was a learning curve from students figuring out how to get tested and what to do if they were diagnosed with or exposed to COVID.

“Early on, we had a lot of questions about access to testing but, as the semester progressed, (students) became familiar with the process,” she said. “Also, (we had) questions about isolation and quarantine. We spend a lot of time educating students on the difference between the two and the important, but different roles of both.”

For instance, Eror said, many students think they don’t need to quarantine for the full 14 days if they receive a negative COVID test. She said staff members have to explain that a positive result could take up to 14 days from the time of the exposure, so quarantining for the entire period is crucial.

Not all university health providers are seeing a big spike in patients. At Western Connecticut State University, spokesman Paul Steinmetz said, “health services is seeing four to five students a week who appear to be symptomatic.”

Steinmetz said those numbers are similar to what health services would see each week in a typical year. He said only two WCSU students have tested positive for COVID, so most who show up with symptoms end up testing negative.

In addition to testing and answering questions, responsibilities for some student health service programs have expanded to include such activities as contact tracing.

Eror said her department has been involved in contact tracing at UConn-Storrs, which is reporting more than 100 active cases among oncampus and commuter students. So far, she said, students have been cooperative.

“Our students are committed to the health and safety of the campus, which results in a high level of participation,” she said. “We also reassure them that their privacy is maintained and there are no negative consequences to the information they provide.”

At Sacred Heart, which is reporting about 70 active COVID cases, Clachko said contact tracing is conducted through the public safety department. However, she said, her department does “work closely” with public safety on the tracing.

“We’re not making the calls to contacts, but a lot of students who have been in contacts (with someone who tests positive) or have questions about whether they were a close contact will then call us,” Clachko said.

She and Eror said they’re impressed with how seriously students seem to be taking pandemic-related cautions. Clachko said it can be challenging to get students to follow rules about social distancing and avoiding large gatherings — especially since they go against many expectations students have about college — but seem to understand.

“I think, for the most part, our students are rule followers and want to protect the community and themselves,” she said. “I understand this is a different college experience for them, but I think they do understand what we’re trying to achieve.”

Eror said UConn students also have been generally cooperative.