Communicable Diseases/Contagious Illnesses

Administrative Procedure 3.601

This administrative procedure provides guidance for employees, students, and visitors to campus who acquire a communicable disease/contagious illness, which may affect their health, safety, welfare, and that of others with whom they have contact. This guidance is gathered from the Kane County Health Department, Illinois Department of Public Health and other subject matter experts.

Respecting Privacy

A communicable disease, as defined by the Illinois Department of Public Health Administrative Code, is an illness due to a specific infectious agent or its toxic products that arises through transmission of that agent or its products from an infected person, animal or inanimate source to a susceptible host. 

Elgin Community College (ECC) will comply with all applicable statutes and regulations that protect the privacy of persons who have a communicable disease. The number of personnel aware of the employee’s or student’s condition will be kept at a minimum, in accordance with federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations, to ensure proper care of the employee or student and to prevent situations which may increase the potential for transmission of the communicable disease. 

Every effort will be made to ensure that procedurally sufficient safeguards are in place to maintain the confidentiality of medical information provided to the college. Private medical information will only be disclosed to individuals who have a legitimate need to know. These persons shall not further disclose such information.

Reporting Confirmed Communicable Diseases

Employees and students should report their own confirmed cases of communicable disease or any confirmed cases disclosed to them to the following college personnel. If the first individual is not available, please contact the next individual in the order listed.

1. Senior Director of Emergency Management 
2. Dean of Students 
3. Chief Human Resources Officer

Required Reporting

Section 690.200 of the Illinois Control of Communicable Diseases Code requires that ECC notify the local health authority (i.e., Kane County Health Department), whenever an employee or student has or is suspected of having a communicable disease as defined in the Code. Notification is the responsibility of the Senior Director of Emergency Management.

Diseases Requiring Immediate Notification per Section 690.100 of the Illinois Control of Communicable Diseases Code

Class I(a)

When an employee, student, or visitor to campus is known or suspected to have one of the following diseases, as determined by the appropriate laboratory test or a confirmed diagnosis, the local health authority will be notified within three hours: 

1. Any unusual case of a disease or condition caused by an infectious agent not listed in this part that is of urgent public health significance 
2. Anthrax 
3. Botulism (food borne) 
4. Brucellosis (if suspected to be part of a bioterrorist event or part of an outbreak) 
5. Coronavirus, Novel, including Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) 
6. Diphtheria 
7. Influenza A (Novel virus) 
8. Plague 
9. Poliomyelitis 
10. Q-fever (if suspected to be part of a bioterrorist event or part of an outbreak) 
11. Smallpox 
12. Tularemia (if suspected to be part of a bioterrorist event or part of an outbreak) 
13. Any suspected bio-terrorist threat or event

Diseases Requiring Notification within 24 Hours

Class I(b)

The following diseases shall be reported as soon as possible during normal business hours, but within 24 hours, (i.e., within 8 regularly scheduled business hours after identifying the case) to the local health authorities, who shall then report to the Illinois Department of Public Health: 

1. Botulism (intestinal, wound, and other) 
2. Brucellosis (not suspected to be a bio-terrorist event or part of an outbreak) 
3. 3. Chicken Pox (Varicella) 
4. 4. Cholera 
5. 5. Escherichia coli infections 
6. 6. Haemophilus influenzae 
7. 7. Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome 
8. 8. Hemolytic uremic syndrome 
9. 9. Hepatitis A 3 
10. 10. Influenza admissions into intensive care unit 
11. 11. Measles 
12. 12. Mumps 
13. 13. Neisseria meningitidis (Meningitis) 
14. 14. Outbreaks of public health significance (foodborne/waterborne) 
15. 15. Pertussis (Whooping cough) 
16. 16. Q-fever due to Coxiella burnetii 
17. 17. Rabies 
18. 18. Rubella 
19. 19. Smallpox (complication of vaccination) 
20. 20. Staphylococcus aureus infections with resistance to Vancomycin 
21. 21. Group A Streptococcal infections 
22. 22. Tularemia (if not suspected to be part of a bioterrorist event or part of an outbreak) 
23. 23. Typhoid fever 
24. 24. Typhus

Diseases Requiring Notification within Seven Days 

Class II 

The following diseases shall be reported as soon as possible during normal business hours, but within seven days, to the local health authority, which shall then report to the Illinois Department of Public Health: 

1. Arboviral infections 
2. Campylobacteriosis 
3. Cryptosporidiosis 
4. Cyclosporiasis 
5. Hepatitis B, C, or D 
6. Histoplasmosis 
7. Influenza death in persons less than 18 years 
8. Legionellosis 
9. Leptospirosis 
10. Listeriosis 
11. Malaria 
12. Psittacosis 
13. Salmonellosis 
14. Shigellosis 
15. Streptococcus pneumonia in children less than 5 years 
16. Toxic shock syndrome 
17. Tetanus 
18. Tickborne diseases 
19. Trichinosis 
20. Vibriosis

Restrictions

Employees, students, and visitors with identified communicable diseases may work or attend college through a reasonable accommodation(s) as provided by the Kane County Health 4 Department whenever the risk of transmission of the disease (illness) or the risk of further injury is sufficiently remote. 

The College President, or designee, may decide that because an employee or student with a communicable disease may pose a serious health risk to others, they are not permitted to attend work or classes or participate in College activities with other employees or students. The President, or designee, shall notify the employee or student of the restriction and provide guidance from the Kane County Health Department. After receiving notification, the employee or student shall be entitled to due process through normal grievance procedures. 

Before an employee or student is allowed to return to work or resume academic activities, the employee or student must provide a note from a clinic, the applicable Department of Health, and/or physician that they no longer pose a risk (non-communicable) for their own health, safety, welfare, or that of others with whom they come in contact.

Responsibilities

The Senior Director of Emergency Management and the Dean of Students will ensure that communicable disease educational outreach programs are developed to provide employees and students with appropriate factual material regarding disease matters and precautions. 

There may be incidents which arise on the College campus that will require an institutional response to employees and students. Any institutional response will protect individual confidentiality and will be based on medical advice. Institutional response discussion should include the President, Senior Director of Emergency Management, Dean of Students, and the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer. This group will seek appropriate medical advice and discuss the appropriate course of action, inclusive of a response, with the Vice President of Teaching, Learning and Student Development and the Vice President of Business and Finance. Confidentiality will be maintained at all times. The President, or designee, will review the issues and will determine the appropriate action for the College. 

The Senior Director of Emergency Management and Chair of the Safety Committee will work with Operations and Maintenance to ensure that appropriate precautions are implemented to minimize the risk of further exposure in the spread of communicable diseases.