Testing and Contact Tracing

Berklee will follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance related to positive test results and the 90-day period following those test results. Therefore, if you have previously tested positive, you will not be included in the testing protocol and testing schedule for a period of 90 days after your initial COVID-19 diagnosis. Berklee will remove you from testing requirements until the 90-day post-diagnosis period is complete. Scientific research indicates that individuals will likely continue to test positive for a period of 90 days post-diagnosis, despite the fact that they are no longer infectious. After 90 days following a COVID-19 diagnosis, you will be included in the required testing protocols.  

If you tested positive within 90 days of arriving to campus and are cleared to resume your normal activities by a treating physician, you must bring evidence of the COVID-19 diagnosis that indicates the date you were diagnosed and when you were cleared to safely resume activities and interactions before reporting to campus for work or classes.

• Faculty and staff: Submit documentation to Human Resources at hremployeerelations@berklee.edu.
• Students: Submit documentation to covidhealthcoordinator@berklee.edu. 

During the 90-day post-diagnosis period, continue to monitor your health and wellness, and if at any time you exhibit COVID-19 symptoms, contact the Tufts Medical Team at 617-636-6006 or consult with your primary care physician, who can assess your condition and discuss appropriate next steps.

You should continue to get tested at your normal testing cadence.

Once fully vaccinated, you are still expected to comply with all Berklee health and safety protocols, including (but not limited to) testing, daily symptom reporting, and mask-wearing. 

Per the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) guidelines, you do not need to quarantine if you are identified as a close contact of someone who tests positive.

Berklee has implemented a testing system that aligns with local and federal guidelines, as well as the requirements of Tufts Medical Center, our health care partner. Berklee has partnered with Tufts Medical Center, whose infectious disease program is among the top in the country, to manage the clinical aspects of our testing center and protocols. The Tufts team managing our testing center successfully implemented the same setup and workflow at Tufts University’s main campus and Boston campus, as well as at Emerson’s campus, where they collectively serve more than 16,000 individuals. There have been no cases of testers developing COVID-19 through the testing sites.

The Berklee testing center site and operations were surveyed and reviewed by the infection prevention team at Tufts, and were approved as meeting health and safety standards. Here are several key components of those protocols:

• Ventilation: The air exchange rate in the testing center already exceeds the required rate of exchange; as an additional precaution for our community, we have added HEPA filtration units throughout the center.
• Cleaning: The facility is cleaned multiple times a day, with surfaces being disinfected at regular intervals, and a deep cleaning is done at the end of each day. 
• Testing process: Testers move through the facility in well under five minutes (or less, once they are registered), and the testing procedure itself usually takes less than 90 seconds. Transmission occurs after prolonged exposure to an infected person—over 15 minutes, cumulatively—not after brief potential interactions.
• Physical distancing: The testing center has blue dots in the nose blowing bays, indicating how many people should be waiting in that area at a time. If there is no blue dot available, the Tufts medical assistants will instruct patients to stay in their respective bays until there is space to move forward. Their role is to reinforce the existing signage we have about social distancing as well as act as traffic control, stopping entry to any area where there may be a bottleneck. 

Test results will typically be available 24–48 hours after your test. You can view your test results in the CoVerified app (view instructions).

• Negative: You are cleared to access campus facilities and should continue your daily symptom reports and twice-weekly testing cadence. No additional actions are necessary.
• TNP: You are not cleared to access campus. If you are not having any symptoms, you should go to the testing center immediately or as soon as it is open (Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.). If you are experiencing symptoms, call the testing center during their open hours (617-747-2019, option #1). A TNP indicates that your test could not be processed and will need to be administered. You do not need an appointment to return to the testing center in this case.
• Inconclusive: This result indicates that your test result was inconclusive and will need to be administered. You are not cleared to access campus. You will receive a call from the Tufts Medical Center nursing team to determine next steps. Do not go to the testing center unless the nurse directs you to do so. 
• Positive result: If your test is positive, the health care provider will call you to inform you of the isolation protocol and what you need to do. Soon after the health care provider calls you, the Berklee CT will call you from this phone number: 339-666-2940. If you do not pick up, they will leave a voicemail asking you to return the call. A text from an unknown number will also be sent to you requesting that you call back a phone number starting with area code 339 as soon as you are able. If you are in class, you will be excused to take the call or call back promptly. We encourage you to call back as soon as possible; the CT will continue calling you until they speak with you.

The CT will verify your information to ensure your privacy. They will ask for information concerning: 

• your likely exposure date;
• with whom you had close contact (within six feet for 15 minutes or more);
• if you were at gatherings;
• if you know how you were exposed; and  
• if you have symptoms or not. Note: Even if you are asymptomatic, you may be contagious and need to isolate.

The CT will share the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Berklee community isolation and quarantine protocol, to which you must adhere.

In addition to getting a call from the health care provider and CT, you can expect the following:

• Your Berklee ID will be deactivated until your isolation or quarantine period is completed. Learn about Berklee’s isolation protocols.  
• Before you are cleared to leave isolation and return to campus, a medical provider at Tufts Medical Center will review your health status with you. If you are cleared to return to campus, the provider will ask you to sign a letter with instructions. The letter will be provided to the Berklee COVID-19 health care administrator. One the day of your release from isolation, you will receive an email from the COVID-19 health care administrator. Your ID will be reactivated at this time so you can access campus facilities.

Berklee’s goal is to ensure that everyone you may have been in close contact with is aware of their potential exposure. CTs will share quarantine protocols with your close contacts and make sure they are not exposing others. Sharing who you were with or where you were is critical in helping to contain the spread of the virus.

Please note that all information that you share will be kept private unless you give us permission to share it with your contacts or you directly share your test results with your friends and family with whom you were in contact. We recommend that you notify them first; if they are Berklee community members, let them know that the Berklee CTT will also reach out to them. If they are not part of Berklee, we will share this information with the local board of health or the Commonwealth Tracing Collaborative so they can contact them.

After they call you, the CT will alert the appropriate team so they can support you:

• Students: The CT will alert Student Affairs, and a member of Health and Wellness will notify your faculty members that you are away from in-person classes. No information about your health status will be shared with your faculty members.
• Faculty and staff: The CT will alert Human Resources so they can offer you resources and support. 

These teams will be available in case you need anything and will provide further guidance and follow up. We know that this is a challenging time for you, and we want you to know that Berklee is here to support you. If you have any general questions about contact tracing, please email cttm@berklee.edu.

Berklee CTs will contact you by phone from the number 339-666-2940. If you do not answer your phone, the tracer may send you a text message from another phone number, but they will identify themselves as part of the Berklee CTT. Please save this phone number in your cell phone so you know to answer the call when it comes in.

For the safety of our community, only enrolled hybrid students, faculty, staff, and vendors have access to the Berklee testing center. If you are a remote student and you get a call from the CTs about a potential exposure, you cannot get tested at the testing center and will need to get tested elsewhere. 

Please stay in your residence hall room/apartment/home, and do not go to class. 

• Between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on weekdays: Call Berklee’s Testing Center at 617-747-2019. 
• After business hours: Call Public Safety at 617-747-2682 to be connected with the on-call team. 

Do not report to work or come to campus. 

Complete these two steps in any order; feel free to contact Human Resources first for guidance about your benefits before contacting your provider.

• Contact your primary care physician to report your symptoms and obtain medical guidance.
• Contact a member of the benefits team in Human Resources at benefits@berklee.edu for resources, support, and appropriate clearance to return to work once your physician provides approval to resume activities and work.