Trinity Reports First Employee Case of COVID-19

Brendan W. Clark ’21

Editor-in-Chief

Trinity College has reported its first staff case of the novel coronavirus Wednesday afternoon. In an email to employees, Assistant Director of Human Resources Michelle Cabral noted that the impacted employee had “been contacted in accordance with our protocols and is complying fully with all requirements.”

Some staff returned to campus in a phased re-entry strategy beginning in August. Some faculty members have returned to the campus for in-person instruction since classes resumed for the fall term on Sept. 7.

Chief of Staff to the President Jason Rojas told the Tripod that the individual was an “administrative staff person.” Rojas stressed that “employees who were in contact with the affected employee have been contacted” and encouraged “all members of our campus community to continue their participation in our testing and daily symptom checking protocols.”

Rojas stressed that the individual impacted was “not a member of the faculty.”

Any individuals who came into contact have “already been contacted by our health team,” according to Cabral. It was not clear if any of those individuals included students. While faculty and staff have received emails relative to the new coronavirus cases, students will no longer receive regular updates according to a previous email by Dean of Campus Life and Vice President for Student Affairs Joe DiChristina.

Trinity also updated its COVID-19 dashboard Tuesday evening to reflect an additional student case confirmed on-campus and two prior cases. No additional details relative to the case were provided. It was not immediately clear when the prior cases were added or why those students had not returned to campus last week.

This is a developing story. The Tripod will update it as more details become available.