Prevention/Symptoms

Any student experiencing stress or concern about COVID-19 can contact our University Counseling Center (CAPS) for support. Faculty and staff members can contact Geisinger.

Symptoms

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection have reported mild to severe respiratory illness with symptoms of:

• fever,
• cough,
• shortness of breath or difficulty breathing,
• chills,
• repeated shaking with chills,
• muscle pain,
• headache,
• sore throat, and
• new loss of taste or smell.

Anyone who is experiencing symptoms associated with COVID-19 or who thinks they have been exposed to the virus via travel or contact with others should call their health care provider to talk with a medical professional as soon as possible.      If you are sick, do not report to campus for work, classes or any other reason.

Students should call Student Health Services at  570-674-6276.
Faculty and staff should call Geisinger at 1-800-275-6401.

Prevention

Quarantine at Home

We know that students may need to or choose to quarantine at home. Johns Hopkins developed some important advice for students who may need to or choose to quarantine at home. Click here to access a PDF with those tips.

The CDC has issued guidance for preventing COVID-19 from spreading to others. There are several resources available for specific situations and audiences:

• People being evaluated by a healthcare provider or confirmed to have COVID-19 who do not need to be hospitalized and who can receive care at home.
• Caregivers and anyone living with a person confirmed to have or being evaluated for, COVID-19.
• Other people who have had close contact with a person confirmed to have or being evaluated for COVID-19.

Risk Assessment on COVID-19

On March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the current COVID-19 outbreak has met all the requirements of a pandemic. Numerous cases of COVID-19 have been positively identified in the United States, including Pennsylvania.  

Misericordia reminds all of our University community members to continue to follow standard wellness practices, such as:

• frequent hand-washing,
• covering your nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing,
• Avoiding sharing cups, utensils, water bottles and other personal items and
• Staying home when sick and avoiding others who are sick.