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UP Can Communicate COVID-Positive Status to Parents with Student Consent

Health Center

Pilots Prevent

January 19, 2021

As students return to campus and the neighborhood for Spring Semester, testing positive for COVID-19 is a very real concern for many in the UP community. Parents and students alike wonder how the University will care for students who fall ill and how UP will communicate with families of sick students.

The COVID-19 Case Management Team has a thorough plan in place to care for students in campus apartments if they test positive and need to isolate. “Unfortunately, due to HIPAA and FERPA regulations, we aren’t legally allowed to notify parents if their student becomes sick,” says Kaylin Soldat, associate director for primary care in UP’s Health and Counseling Center. 

 “Generally we can only reach out to parents, or the student’s emergency contact, if the student is incapable of doing so,” says Soldat. “Often we will offer to contact parents or families for the student and explain a diagnosis or recommendation for follow-up treatment, but we can only do that with the student’s permission. Usually we find that they want to contact their parents themselves.”

Health Center staff often get questions about sharing information with parents if a medical power of attorney has been established.

“Medical powers of attorney really only work if someone is unconscious and unable to make a decision for themselves,” says Soldat. “They don’t give us blanket permission to share medical information without a patient’s express consent.”

In addition to caring for students experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, primary care staff in the Health Center will continue to evaluate and treat other routine illnesses and injuries, regardless of health insurance coverage. The staff recognizes that navigating health care by themselves for the first time can be challenging and that’s why they offer to help students talk with their families.

 “We were lucky during Fall Semester that our students who did test positive for COVID-19 had relatively minor symptoms and weren’t so sick that they weren’t able to communicate with their families,” says Soldat. “In other situations, if we’ve had to send students to the ER for further treatment, we always offer to contact families to let them know what’s happening and we make sure students have their cell phones with them so they can keep in communication with their families.”