Officials on George Washington University’s campus are implementing new ways to track their on-campus students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the university’s spokesperson Crystal Nosal, Campus Living and Residential Education staff are contacting students living on campus and asking them to fill out the Student Travel Notification Form. This form is used to track where students, faculty and staff travel to during the pandemic. Students are required to fill out the form if they travel outside of the DMV (D.C., Maryland, and Virginia) area.
If students travel to a high-risk state, they must self-quarantine for a period of 14 days before returning to campus.
The form asks travelers to state if they’re a student, faculty or staff member, the transportation method they’re taking, how long the trip will be, the destination the traveler is heading to and which dorm they reside in on campus.
Nosal revealed in an email obtained by The GW Hatchet, “This form is not a document seeking permission to travel. Every member of our on-campus community has the ability to make their own informed decisions as to what is best for their situation.”
According to Nosal, the form is intended by officials to allow students to update the status on their health status.
“One of the main purposes of the form is to provide a secure way for individuals who do need to travel during the semester to communicate directly to campus support team monitoring that to each individual member of the approved campus cohort is continuing to fill out their daily symptom check in the medical portal and adhering to regular COVID testing,” says Nosal.
Although Nosal hasn’t revealed how many students have used the form this fall semester, she says, “We realize that this time of year during mid-terms can be a stressful time, and we appreciate that almost all of our on-campus residents remained on campus during the break. This helps demonstrate their commitment to following the University’s and District’s health and safety protocols.”