Institute for Behavioral Genetics 

Procedure for responding to COVID exposure, symptoms, or cases 

(Last updated 08-07-2020) 

If you feel ill, do not come to work. Report your symptoms on your Daily Health Questionnaire, and report your situation to your Supervisor/PI.   

If you have been in close contact* with someone with COVID, have symptoms of COVID, or have tested positive for COVID, quarantine for 14 days. Do not come to work. Consult with your physician. Report your situation to your Supervisor/PI. 

If you have a positive COVID test, immediately tell your supervisor/PI who should do the following:

  1. Notify CU Boulder’s Health and Wellness Public Health Staff through the Health Questionnaire.
  2. Maintaining confidentiality as far as possible:
    1. Notify the Director, John Hewitt (who will also notify the Vice Chancellor, Terri Fiez). 

    2. Contact the members of the laboratory and the supervisor/PI of any laboratory with shared space/common use of equipment.

    3. Notify the building proctor (Wendy Senger for the IBG building, Dr. Jerry Stitzel for RL4, or Rosie Compean for ARCE) who will notify FacMan and EH&S. 

These procedures are summarized in the summary slide at: https://ibg.colorado.edu/~hewitt/covid/COVIDSupervisorResponse.pptx 

The lab will be closed for 72 hours after the person’s last time in the lab. The supervisor/PI should determine whether there was use of a bathroom and which one and notify the building proctor who will arrange that bathroom locked for the same 72 hour period. 

Cleaning and disinfecting should be standard practice in everyone’s research space and there will be no special cleaning by custodial or FacMan in lab areas. There is the potential for damage to equipment if outside people come in to clean. So, each lab will be responsible for cleaning their spaces. Since this virus is not infectious on surfaces after 72 hours, keeping the lab closed for 72 hours should be long enough to decrease any risk. But, people should enhance their diligence after a positive case is found. 

Exemption from the 72 hours lab closure may be granted only in cases where a long term experiment will be lost, and will only be allowed after approval by the PI and Director. 

Anyone in the building who feels uneasy about coming in after a positive case with these policies and practices in place should discuss with their supervisor/PI and if an agreement cannot be reached, the Director will mediate an agreement. 

*Close contact is defined as <6 feet for more than 15 minutes (even with masks) or more than 5 minutes if the interaction involved talking (that increases the risk of transmission). Risk also increases with time of exposure, and amount and volume of conversation. Assuming all social distancing, mask use, and cleaning protocols were followed, quarantine for 14 days is recommended for anyone in the same space for >4 hours, even if separated by >6 feet and wearing masks.  

For further leave reporting and quarantine guidance refer to the Human Resources document at: https://www.colorado.edu/hr/sites/default/files/attached-files/staff_workspace_covid_mitigation_july_31_2020_v3.pdf