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Contact tracers are vital to Salem State University's efforts to protect the campus community from the spread of COVID-19. Since the summer months and throughout the fall 2020 semester, contact tracers Annie Hollister and Andrew Jones have supported safety efforts at Salem State. Learn more about COVID-19 safety and how to get a COVID-19 test at Salem State.
Andrew Jones
Andrew Jones is one of Salem State University’s new Contact Tracing Liaisons. A native Bostonian, Andrew received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Michigan and has worked as a theatre professional in New York City for the past decade. Andrew received his certification in contact tracing this spring and is thankful to have the opportunity to keep Salem State safely open. He is encouraged by the connections he is making with students, and he truly believes that by working together we can live and learn safely during a pandemic. Andrew created a video to help explain contact tracing and how we can create a safe campus environment.
Annie Hollister
Annie is one of the Contact Tracing Liaisons hired to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on Salem State's campus. She graduated from Tulane University in 2020 where she studied public health, art history, and Spanish. Annie chose to be a contact tracer because she has studied the importance of disease prevention and knows how valuable tools such as social distancing, quarantine, and isolation can be. She is excited to be working with Salem State University to protect students, faculty, staff, and the Salem community.
Defining a "close contact"
A close contact is defined as any individual who was within six feet of an infected person—with or without a mask—for at least 15 minutes within a 24-hour period of time.
That contact can occur at any time, starting from two days before illness onset and until the time the patient is isolated. For asymptomatic patients, the contact can occur as short as two days prior to a positive test.
How you can be ready to help contact tracers
- Answer any phone calls from the university, which would start with "978-542."
- Respond to emails, texts or messages sent through the health services portal.
- Ensure contact information is up to date in Navigator, including your mobile phone number.
- Be mindful and either write or mentally note all close contacts and places you’ve been, so that if you become positive you are able to quickly recall who else may have been exposed. You can report contacts in the CoVerified app.