The university has received notification of a confirmed COVID-19 case on campus involving a student.
The student tested positive on Jan. 18, and was last on campus in the Health Sciences Centre on Jan. 14. Impacted areas have since been thoroughly cleaned.
Any contact tracing required is being managed by public health authorities. They will be directly contacting anyone who would be part of the tracing for this case.
McMaster has developed comprehensive protocols for any reported confirmed case of COVID-19. These have been developed in accordance with public health guidelines and include creation of a university rapid response team which coordinates all cleaning and follow up that is required.
Before anyone comes to a McMaster facility
Anyone coming to campus or a McMaster facility must complete the provincial COVID-19 screening tool no more than one hour in advance of coming to campus and send confirmation of passing the screening to a supervisor, faculty member or instructor or key contact at the university.
All employees and students who have a need to be on campus must also complete a mandatory online training module in advance of attending a McMaster facility. The training link is available on Mosaic.
If you feel ill, please do not attend a McMaster facility and you are encouraged to seek medical advice. More detailed information on reporting is available at the links below.
McMaster COVID-19 protocols
When the university is notified that someone is awaiting test results and has been on campus, the areas where the person had been on campus in the previous 72 hours are cleaned out of an abundance of caution. In the majority of cases the test results have been negative. If a test result is later confirmed, additional cleaning may also occur out of an abundance of caution.
The university communicates a confirmed case to the McMaster community when it is informed of a positive test result of an individual who has spent any time on campus, even if just for a few minutes.
All McMaster students, faculty and staff are reminded to use the self-reporting tool in Mosaic to report a confirmed COVID-19 test result or when referred for COVID-19 testing or self-isolation. This tool is confidential and helps the university track confirmed cases on campus and ensure appropriate cleaning and safety protocols are put into place promptly.