Parkland College Updates COVID-19 Safety Protocols

New COVID-19 Monitoring System at Parkland College

Parkland College has implemented new COVID-19 safety standards and procedures this week to comply with the recent executive order from Gov. Pritzker for higher education.

In letters to the campus community late last week, Vice President for Student Services Mike Trame announced that phase one of the college's new COVID-19 Monitoring System would begin today. The system includes safety measures such as restricting access to certain entrances around campus, using entry checkers, and tracking vaccination status or weekly testing requirements through the Safer Community app.

"We are continuing to make rapid progress in rolling out the new monitoring system," Trame said, noting that the college is employing a phase-in approach. "We believe that moving through these new requirements in phases is the best way to stay in compliance with the governor's order, build new internal systems, and transition our community smoothly into these new requirements."

In phase one, the college has been gathering vaccination status information from students and employees and has begun utilizing the Safer Community app to verify compliance status. While no student, employee, or visitor is being turned away at any entrance for noncompliance in this phase, the college is restricting the number of entrances to campus in preparation for a comprehensive entry-checking system that will utilize the Safer Community app for students and employees. A map is available for reference.

Administrators say that phase two, the monitoring and facility-access restriction phase, will begin early to mid-October. Available entrances will be restricted to those who are either fully vaccinated or have had a negative COVID-19 test within the last week. Parkland College offers free SHIELD CU COVID-19 testing in room D244.

Parkland College will use the Safer Community app to monitor access to campus facilities. Door checkers posted at the available entrances will determine an individual's access to buildings by checking their app status. Visitors will still be allowed to enter the campus for limited purposes in accordance with the Executive Order.

To help answer questions about the new monitoring system, the college has created an FAQ page at parkland.edu/COVIDmonitoring.