Confirmed COVID cases at McMaster: January 4
The university has received notification of three unrelated confirmed COVID-19 cases of people who have visited campus.
One case involves an employee who was briefly on campus on Dec. 21, in the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery (MDCL) The second case involves an employee who briefly visited Hamilton Hall on Dec. 22.
The third case involves an international graduate student who was already quarantining in residence in accordance with government guidelines after arriving in late December.
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.
Any contact tracing that may be required in these cases would be managed by public health authorities.
Before anyone comes to a McMaster facility
Anyone coming to campus or a McMaster facility must complete the provincial COVID-19 screening tool within one hour 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.
COVID-19 Updates