Carlos Hermenegildo Caudevilla, Vice-principal of Research

The COVID reference persons at a centre (Faculty or College) must be familiar with the following information:

• UV internal regulations:
  • Agreement of September 6 2021, reached by the Department of Universal Health and Public Health, the Department of Innovation, Universities, Science and Digital Society and the Universities of the Valencian Country, in regards to the beginning of the 2021-2022 academic year:
  • ACGUV 167/2021 Agreement, dated 29 June 2021, for the approval of the teaching planning of Universitat de València's official degrees in the 2021-2022 academic year:
  • Action protocol for the 2021/22 academic year, ratified on September 6 2021 by the Department of Universal Health and Public Health, the Department of Innovation, Universities, Science and Digital Society and the Universities of the Valencian Country:
  • Instruction IUV17/2020, of 9 September, from the Management on preventive measures as a result of the situation generated by the transmission of COVID-19.
  • Instruction IUV 3/2021, of 2 February, from the Management of modification of instruction IUV 17/2020 about the preventive measures introduced as consequence of the situation caused by the spread of COVID-19.
• Frequently asked questions addressed to UV students
• Frequently asked questions addressed to UV staff

Any additional information of interest will be published on this website.

COVID reference people must watch over the compliance and, in case it is necessary, the adaptation of the already implemented preventive measures according to the internal regulation and guidelines or instructions given by the Health and Safety and the Environment Service (SPMA). Moreover, they will be the intermediaries between the SPMA and the person in charge of COVID at the UV, via the email address covid@uv.es. They will be in charge of monitoring and responding to COVID-19 confirmed cases and possible outbreaks in a group or centre. 

Each centre will establish the mechanisms of diffusion and contact directed to its personnel and students that it considers more convenient. However, a list of the information provided by the centres themselves is included on the UV home page and is accessible to the entire university community. Referees from the centres can request changes to the published data by contacting covid@uv.es.

In order to make it easier for COVID's reference persons to act through work teams (COVID teams), we recommend using generic contact details, i.e. e-mail aliases and shared telephone numbers.

The centre and teaching staff must meet any enquiries, doubts or academic needs that the students who have been told (by their health centre or the SPMA) to quarantine due to contagion or close contact may have. 

Additionally, if it is a confirmed case based on a PCR test or a suspicious case with symptoms that has been to the UV the previous 48 hours to the onset of the symptoms or the diagnostic test result, the student must notify of it via covid@uv.es. 

It is not necessary to notify covid@uv.es of other situations, such as preventive self-isolation due to close contacts, quarantines of relatives or friends, or confirmed cases that have not been to the UV during the indicated period. 

Close contact is considered to be any person who has been in the same place as a case, at a distance of less than 2 meters and for a total accumulated time of more than 15 minutes in 24 hours.

When a case of infection is confirmed, the UV works with the health authorities to identify and inform possible close contacts within the university community. The aim of this collaboration is to act as quickly as possible to prevent the spread of infection among members of the university community and to take additional measures in the event of an outbreak.

To facilitate this work, in the event of a confirmed case of infection, you should:

• If you know of close contacts according to the above definition, anticipate them by indicating to the identified staff or students that they should contact their health centre and should not come to the university until they receive new indications.
• Attend to basic queries using, for example, the frequently asked questions addressed to students and UV staff with which you should familiarise yourself. Only direct enquiries to covid@uv.es if it is a case of confirmed infection with a PCR test or a suspected case with symptoms that has been in the UV facilities since 48 hours before the start of the symptoms or sample collection for diagnosis.
• Record your centre's confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection. The covid@uv.es staff will provide you with a copy of the initial communications with your centre's students so that you can be kept informed.
• When there is more than one confirmed case in your centre, analyse if they are related (students from the same group or sharing the same classroom). If three or more cases are identified in the same group, the COVID reference person at the centre must immediately inform covid@uv.es for its possible classification as an outbreak. Likewise, the covid@uv.es team will keep you informed of any suspected outbreak.
• If an outbreak is identified, it is up to the person in charge of COVID at the UV to propose the temporary suspension of the group's (or centre's) on-site activity (if it evolves into more than one group). You must follow their instructions and have available the list of names, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses of the people in the group or groups who have shared a classroom with the infected people, to speed up communication in these cases.

Before any case is confirmed, you must inform all your centre staff of the existence of an isolation room specially prepared for that purpose. 

The person of the UV that is with the other one who is seriously ill can opt for evacuating the rest of the group from the room where they are or transferring voluntarily the symptomatic person to the isolation room. 

The person affected will be provided with a mask if they do not have one. The accompanying person also must wear a surgical mask. If, for any reason, the person who has symptoms cannot wear a mask, the accompanying person must wear an FFP2 mask without a valve.

People who are vulnerable to COVID-19 cannot be the accompanying person.  

You have to inform immediately the health authority via the telephone number 900 300 555, the SPMA on 96 339 50 17 and the email address covid@uv.es. 

If the person justifies with a medical report that he/she cannot attend classes on-site, the centre must facilitate the attendance of the teaching at a distance, as long as the nature of the activities allows it.

You can discuss with the SPMA the possibility of adopting alternative prevention measures to enable face-to-face assistance. In any case, if the person justifies with a medical report that they cannot wear a hygienic or surgical mask, the centre will pay special attention to the specific support needs that they may require in order to continue with their studies at a distance during this period.

You can contact:

• The COVID reference person on the Campus, who is the SPMA technician on the Campus..
• The person in charge of COVID at the UV.