For Duke University, the key to keeping students on campus with in person instruction has been thorough systems for monitoring community health beyond COVID testing.

Community Monitoring to slow the spread

As of September 11, Duke University has enabled on-campus life with only 58 positive tests since Aug 2 (a 0.002% positive test rate). In addition to surveillance testings, they have also implemented a rigorous compliance tracking program.

The COVID compliance team, called the "C-Team" by students, tracks student compliance to the expectations of mask wearing, temperature checks, hand washing, and social distancing.

"Members of the C-Team are on campus ​throughout the day and into evening, walking around East and West, to observe behaviors related to masking and social distancing and to give friendly reminders related to compliance in these areas," said Sue Wasiolek, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs at Duke.

Behavior Observation Systems reduce negative outcomes

The compliance program is essentially a recorded behavior observation system. Each interaction provides an opportunity to reinforce and correct behaviors that we know will lead to an increase in the spread of the virus.

A behavior observation system is an early indicator to predict the future results. In many manufacturers, safety observation systems are predictive of future safety incidents. Often a dangerous behavior can be corrected before it results in a negative outcome. This principle applies also to COVID behaviors to control the spread.

Self reporting leads to sustained behavior change

When we think about what a COVID behavior observation system could look like for businesses, we know that it must track behaviors by individual. In the most efficient scenario, the individual self reports their status on a checklist, and the information is tracked and recorded for future investigation if necessary.

We created a simple application to allow team members to self report their COVID behavior checks. Starting today, we are offering this tracker free to all Ampogee customers.

Leaders take control of their team’s future

Now team members can self report from anywhere, and the leadership can aggregate the data to review community compliance. When community compliance falls below expectations, leaders can intervene before any tests are administered.

Leaders understand that measuring and controlling the safe behaviors of individuals are the only way to keep current operations steady. After the COVID tests are positive, the leadership team must switch to reactive and restrictive for current operations. At Duke University, the compliance team is their early intervention team. 

Think your team could benefit from this? Set up a call with me to discuss using this tool in your business.