Purdue University Northwest COVID-19 Guidelines

Purdue University Northwest (PNW) today (Aug. 28, 2020) announced to students, faculty and staff that as a further step in keeping our community informed about our efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19, PNW will report the number of active positive cases on our campuses through a dashboard. This dashboard has been added to the online PNW COVID-19 Guide and will be updated weekly.

Since August 17, PNW has had five (5) students report positive COVID-19 tests and zero (0) faculty or staff report positive tests.

The information was shared with the PNW community via a memo to all students, faculty and staff, and posted to the university’s website.

PNW is following guidelines from the Indiana State Department of Health as to when a student, faculty or staff member can return to school after developing symptoms, receiving test results or coming into close contact with someone with confirmed COVID-19 (opens PDF). The treating physician is responsible for notifying local or state public-health authorities of a COVID-19 diagnosis. The public health department performs a detailed interview of any COVID-19 positive patient and then contacts all people with whom the patient had direct, personal contact within the relevant time period.

The university cannot provide any identifying information about or the health condition of a student, faculty or staff member in compliance with privacy laws including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and other applicable laws on health privacy.

PNW has been actively reminding all members of the university community of our shared responsibility to help keep the number of positive cases as low as possible. These four simple steps limit the spread of COVID-19:

  • Wear a face covering
  • Practice social distancing
  • Clean your hands and your workspaces
  • Stay home if you are sick

Adhering to these protocols and procedures will help ensure that we all have a successful and productive year .