New COVID-19 screening requirement

Friday, November 27, 2020

This message was originally sent to employees by the director of safety, Kate Windsor.

Effective November 30, 2020, you must complete a new COVID-19 screening assessment before accessing campus.

We are updating our COVID-19 screening processes to align with regulations the Ontario government recently announced. With this new level of accountability placed on institutions by the Province, we are making a COVID-19 screening assessment mandatory for every individual who comes to campus, including essential visitors and contractors, and we will now be tracking compliance.

What does this mean for me?

Effective Monday, November 30, 2020, you must complete the new screening questions before accessing campus. You will get an email with a link to the screening tool when your device connects to the campus wireless network (eduroam) or at the arrival time entered if using the manual Campus Check-In form.

If you pass the screening questions, you may access campus, following established safety practices.
If you fail the screening questions, you must return home to self-isolate immediately. You will receive a follow up email from the University outlining support resources and next steps.
If you do not complete the screening questions upon arriving to campus, you will receive reminders to do so until complete. We will monitor compliance with the screening questionnaire and your access to campus may be removed if you fail to complete the assessment.
For those employees without access to Campus Check-In via mobile device or computer, please speak to your supervisor about how to verify your daily screening status. This can be done by printing a paper copy of the form, available here.

What does this mean for essential visitors?

Essential visitors (e.g., contractors, vendors, visiting researchers) must complete the screening when arriving on campus. If you are the University contact for an essential visitor who has been approved to access campus, you are responsible for ensuring they are screened prior to entering any University building.
Essential visitors can use the Campus Check-In system as a guest. Paper copies of the screening questions and instructions for implementing will be made available at common arrival points, and can be found here online to print.
If an essential visitor does not pass the screening questions, they will be advised that they are unable to enter the workplace and should self-isolate and call their health care provider or Telehealth Ontario.
If they become symptomatic while on campus, they must leave immediately and inform their University contact of the situation (as well as their health care provider or Telehealth Ontario).

Collection of information and protection of privacy

The privacy of our community is of utmost importance. Policy 46 - Information Management and the Guidelines on Use of Waterloo computing and network resources protect any personally identifying information that eduroam collects.

Information collected via the new screening tool will be retained on a University database for 30 days before being deleted. The University will not store individual responses to the questions but will track overall “pass/fail” screening results. These results will be shared directly to the University’s Safety Office.

Paper copies of the Essential Visitor screening will be retained for 30 days before being shredded.