On a Sunday at 2:30 p.m., a Noble Schools student reported that they had tested positive for COVID-19. Within three minutes, our COVID-19 Rapid Response team confirmed they had received the report and started investigating. By 3:33 p.m. the same day, the team had finished the investigation: they determined all close contacts and contacted campus staff with all the information they needed to inform students and families.
At Noble Schools, this kind of response is the norm. For almost every positive COVID-19 case reported, contact tracing is completed within a few hours. Campus staff are notified immediately. After that, most of our families are informed if their student was exposed within 24 hours of the report. This fast turnaround rate helps families make quick decisions to keep their students and themselves safe.
>> Read more about our Health & Safety Plan for COVID-19
This is all made possible because of our dedicated COVID-19 Rapid Response Team, headed by Ana Vasan.
“Before , we had some volunteers within the Operations department that were just jumping on the case response side of things,” Vasan said, “Now that there is a team, they do it. They run it. It’s their full day job.”
The three-person team works seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. to run case investigations for positive COVID-19 reports from all 18 of our campuses. They are in direct contact with every person involved in a report, from students to parents and staff. Since the team started on September 13, Vasan says they have been steadily improving their process by implementing feedback from campus staff and families.
“I would say we make at least a few changes to the process every week, maybe a change a day,” Vasan said, “One really nice thing about getting to be in personal contact with students, parents, and staff is that we’ve been able to create some relationships so that when something is wrong, people tell us… and we can respond to that.”
But Vasan says the improvements they’ve made and tools they’ve built are only a part of why the team is so effective. All three team members are also alumni of Noble.
“They understand the community, they’re very personable, and they’re very efficient. They care about the well-being of the community in a way that a lot of people attached to Noble do,” Vasan said, “So when we bring together preparedness with the efficiency and personality of the people that make up this team, some cool things can happen.”
The team’s next goal: Getting more students and staff vaccinated. Since August, 63% of the Noble community members that tested positive for COVID-19 were unvaccinated.
“Our team is doing everything that we can on the COVID response side to keep our students, families, and staff members safe from the virus,” Vasan said, “And I think our whole team would like to see our vaccination rates among all members of the Noble community skyrocket.”
To help folks get vaccinated, the COVID-19 Rapid Response Team is working on setting up vaccination clinics at multiple campuses. Here’s all the info for their upcoming vaccination clinics:
- Baker College Prep (only open to students, staff, and their families):
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- Upcoming Clinic – February 15 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
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- Gary Comer Middle School (only open to students, staff, and their families):
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- Upcoming Clinic – February 18 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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They also want to encourage students to sign up for the weekly COVID-19 testing provided at all campuses. Students must have a consent form, signed by a parent, on file. Results will turn around in less than a day. Regular testing will help Noble staff and students stay informed so we can keep our schools safe. You can find consent forms for students here:
