Trinity’s buildings will have isolation rooms for staff and students who develop coronavirus symptoms on campus.
Documents outlining the re-opening plans of College’s various schools identify specific rooms where anyone who feels unwell with flu-like symptoms should go.
Room 2018 in the Arts Block will be used as an isolation room for the schools located in that building. Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI) will use room B1.18 as an isolation room, while room 2.17 in Áras an Phiarsaigh will be used.
Rooms 0.17B and 0.17C will be used for isolating unwell staff and students in the Museum Building.
The isolation rooms will be equipped with hand sanitiser, wipes, tissues, face masks, latex gloves and a clinical-waste disposal bin. The designated rooms all have windows which can be easily opened in order to ventilate the room.
The unwell individual will be instructed to wear a face mask at all times and to avoid touching people, surfaces and objects.
Anyone in a shared space with the unwell person will be escorted to the isolation room. The line manager of the person’s school will help them to contact their GP or the College Health Service, as well as order transport home for them.
The COVID-19 Co-ordinator of the relevant school must report the incident and the use of the isolation room to College Security. Premises Services will then arrange to sanitise the isolation room. The line manager will obtain a copy of the person’s contact log, and if a suspected case is reported, any staff identified as a close contact will be asked to go home. These staff should work from home for the next 14 days.
Last week, the government published guidelines for higher-education institutions as they prepare for students’ return to campus. Universities and colleges will be permitted to relax the two-metre social distancing rule to one metre when in lectures or classes.
The government said that while the two-metre rule should be maintained “under all circumstances possible”, there will be instances where “teaching cannot be delivered while maintaining 2m distance between students”.
Staff are advised to wear face shields, visors or other protective equipment – provided by the universities – if the social distancing rule is relaxed.
The government also recommends “the use of cloth face coverings in indoor settings where adequate physical distance cannot be maintained”.
