Point Care

Point Community,

We are grateful for another fall start and for the students who are now on campus! As much as we might wish otherwise, COVID cases are also on and around our campus. In previous years, colleges and universities implemented policies and procedures (“rules”) designed to restrict the spread of COVID. Some even chose to close their residential operations. At Point, we emphasized two priorities — the health and well-being of our residential community and making the most of an in-person educational experience — and sought to maintain a balance between the two. To start our fall semester, we tried to be extra cautious to ensure we could successfully start and mitigate the risk of infection with so many people coming to campus from across the country and world. While COVID mitigation rules were helpful during the long crisis period and as we returned to campus, our long-term approach must focus on personal responsibility, for our own health and for the health of our community.  At this time, we will be discontinuing contact tracing as a university and asking positive individuals to notify their close contacts themselves.  We will continue to notify faculty members when there is an individual who has tested positive in their class to help facilitate awareness for communicating missed information and assignments.

In practical terms, what does this mean? In recent years, we have agreed to follow the CDC guidelines for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. We have also chosen to update our internal policies on the first of the month to avoid confusion as things can change quite quickly in this space. On August 11, 2022, the CDC released streamlined COVID-19 guidance.  Therefore, today, September 1, we are updating our Point policies to align with the CDC and encourage you to be attentive to your own symptoms and to moments of potential exposure. You need to be proactive in testing for COVID (and other viruses) and protecting others when you are infected.

Positive COVID Cases

• Employees and students who test positive for COVID should isolate for 10 days
  • You can test out between day five and 10 if a negative test is produced and you are symptom free for 24 hrs without medications.
  • If you do not get a negative test result, you will continue to isolate through day 10, provided you are symptom free for 24 hours without medication. If you still have symptoms at day 10, you must remain in isolation until you are symptom free for 24 hrs without medications.
• Residential students who live within four hours of West Point will be asked to go home to isolate because we have very limited isolation space on campus.
• Anyone who tests positive should notify Point Care for instructions.
  • Point Care will notify faculty when someone is in isolation
  • Students are responsible for contacting faculty about missed assignments. A doctor’s note is required in order for students to be permitted to make up assignments due to absences caused by illness.
• If a positive person tests out of isolation on day five, he or she must continue in “walking quarantine” with strict mask wearing and monitoring symptoms, for five more days.
• You cannot leave isolation until you are cleared/released from Point Care.

Exposure

• Individuals who have a known exposure to COVID-19 are required to enter a 10 day “walking quarantine” in which they must engage in strict mask wearing and closely monitor their symptoms.
• If an individual develops symptoms within 10 days of exposure, he or she must quarantine in his or her room until they have been seen by a medical professional (all students and staff have access to free telehealth services). The individual will be expected to abide by the advice of the medical professional and advise Point Care of their treatment plan.

Symptoms

• Anyone who has a fever or vomiting is asked to wear a mask and remain off campus/in their room until they have been symptom free for 24 hrs.
• If an individual has fever or vomiting and any other symptom, or any other two symptoms associated with COVID-19, (headache, chills, body aches, sore throat, congestion, loss of taste or smell, cough) they are asked to mask and quarantine in their room/off campus. They should seek prompt medical attention (all students and staff have access to free telehealth services) and advise Point Care of their treatment plan.

For more information on accessing a doctor or counselor through Virtual Care please visit https://thevirtualcaregroup.com/point. This service is provided to all traditional students free of cost.

Please let us know if you have any questions and remember to contact Point Care at pointcare@point.edu to report any symptoms, exposures or positive cases.

Students have the option to consult TeleDoc with no cost to them or to their insurance. Click here to register your account and consult with a doctor.

We believe it’s critical that our faculty, staff and students pursue vaccination to ensure we can operate at full capacity throughout the year. Here are some options closest to campus:

• Kroger Pharmacy in Lanett, Alabama
• CVS Pharmacy in Lanett, Alabama
• Walmart Pharmacy in Valley, Alabama

You can find other locations offering vaccines near West Point here. This link will also tell you which vaccine is offered at each location.

Click here to view Point’s updated Quarantine Policy.