JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Despite the state’s college faculty union calling for campuses to stay closed during the fall amid the pandemic, many schools are set to resume classes on Aug. 17.
In Jacksonville, the University of North Florida is providing students and staff a new tool to help keep the virus off campus. The updated tool that’s part of UNF’s Safe Ospreys app, is designed to gauge someone’s risk factor COVID-19 exposure and infection.
The app’s instructions say “The university expects all faculty, staff, and students to utilize the self-assessment tool daily for personal guidance in determining whether it would pose a health risk to you or others if you were to return to campus.”
Like other screening apps, UNF’s app operates like a questionnaire. It asks if someone has come into contact with someone else who tested positive, and it asks about symptoms.
Depending on what answers are entered, the app calculates someone’s risk factor and lets them know what they should do if they’re at a low risk, potential risk, moderate risk or higher risk of infection.
For the last two designations, the app recommends those people not show up to campus.
The university says specific medical dated will not be collected or stored. It also reminds everyone that the app is not meant to be used to diagnose or replace a trip to the doctor’s office.