According to the COVID Automat approved by the Government of the Slovak Republic on 10 August 2021, the decrees of the Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic, as well as regulations approved by the MBU Crisis Committee meeting, Matej Bel University will follow the MBU Guidance during the academic year 2021/2022, taking into account individual phases of the epidemic situation, in compliance with the COVID Automat.

The aim of the MBU Guidance is to provide early warning against uncontrolled spread of the disease so that necessary prevention measures shall be accepted to eliminate the spread of the disease among MBU students and MBU employees, in order to maintain a safe environment and classes held in person. The MBU Guidance sets the essential operating conditions for all MBU components.

THE GREEN PHASE

The green phase at MBU arises when:

•   no person at MBU is COVID-19 positive,
• one or more persons is/are in quarantine (suspected of being infected) due to having been in contact with a COVID-19 positive person outside the University.

Suspicion of COVID-19

• An MBU student or an MBU employee who reports any of the possible symptoms of COVID-19 is suspected of having COVID-19 disease and must leave the University premises and stay in home isolation as soon as possible after the symptoms appear. The student / employee is obliged to immediately notify the contact person of the relevant MBU component by telephone / e-mail (not in person).
• Each person suspected of having COVID-19 undergoes an RT-PCR test. The student / employee informs the person responsible for the respective part of MBU about the result of his/her test. If the test result is:
• negative – teaching process continues in person,
• positive - the University enters the orange phase according to this MBU Guidance.
• In the event that a student/employee suspected of having COVID-19 does not pass the RT-PCR test, he/she remains in isolation according to the currently valid decree of the Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic and his/her general practitioner decides on the termination of isolation.
• In the case of a confirmed positive case of COVID-19 at the University, the Dean of the Faculty concerned shall immediately request persons, who have not overcome COVID-19 and are not vaccinated, to leave the university premises as soon as possible. Students and employees who are entitled to an exemption will apply with the contact person at the relevant MBU component for the exemption.

THE ORANGE PHASE

The orange phase at MBU arises, when there is at least one confirmed case of COVID-19 at the University.

• If a person has been tested COVID-19 positive, s/he shall immediately notify all persons with whom  s/he has been in close contact two days prior to the onset of clinical signs, in the asymptomatic course of the disease, two days prior to testing for COVID-19.
• Furthermore, the MBU student/MBU employee is obliged to notify the contact person at the relevant MBU component.
• Students/employees who have been tested COVID-19 positive will interrupt attending/working at the University.
• Persons who have been in close contact with a positively tested person (have been contacted by a positively tested person and at the same time reported to the relevant MBU component and the Regional Public Health Authority - RÚVZ during tracing) will be ordered the quarantine. It is necessary for persons who have been in close contact with a positive person to contact their general practitioner and inform him/her of this fact. The general practitioner orders and terminates the quarantine of the person concerned.
• If necessary, the person responsible for an individual MBU component contacts the responsible persons at the relevant RÚVZ and follows their instructions.
• In the event of a person tested COVID-19 positive, the University provides full cooperation to the RÚVZ and the general practitioner.
• The length of the quarantine depends on the currently valid decrees of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic. Only a general practitioner can complete quarantine.

The obligation to quarantine after a close contact with a person tested COVID-19 positive does not apply to a person who is:

• at least 14 days after the second dose of Pfizer vaccine, Moderna vaccine, AstraZeneca vaccine, and Sputnik V vaccine;
• at least 21 days after the first dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine;
•  at least 14 days after the first dose of the vaccine, if the first dose of vaccination was given within 180 days of the onset of COVID-19, or
• after overcoming COVID-19 disease not more than 180 days ago, and the person does not report clinical signs of COVID-19.

In the event that a student or employee complies with the quarantine exemption, s/he shall inform about this fact by means of a notification on the quarantine exemption request on:

https://covid-form.umb.sk

After ordering the quarantine:

• If there are more than 50% of students in the study group (year) with the exception of quarantine, full-time teaching continues, students in quarantine are justified from the teaching process due to illness;
• If there are less than 50% of students in the study group (year) with the exception of quarantine, teaching in person is interrupted and online classes are provided instead for the period of the quarantine duration.

THE RED PHASE

The red phase at MBU arises when several positive cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed at MBU, and according to the regulation of the Regional Public Health Authority (RÚVZ), this is an epidemic occurrence of the disease.

The Dean of the Faculty shall interrupt teaching in person in all study groups/years, in which there have been positive cases of COVID-19 and online teaching will be provided innstead.

At the same time, the Dean will ensure thorough monitoring of the epidemic situation of students and employees with unconfirmed COVID-19:

• by measuring the temperature at the entrance to the building,
• by scanning COVID-PASSES.

Based on the assessment of the epidemiological situation, the Regional Public Health Authority (RÚVZ) may interrupt teaching in person at the whole Faculty or University.

The maximum number of persons allowed to attend classes held in person depend on the current phase of the epidemic situation (according to the COVID Automat of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic)