Feature: Dr. Thayer McGahee (COVID-19) Coordinator

Dr. Thayer McGahee, Dean of the School of Nursing at USC Aiken, also happens to be one of the two COVID-19 Coordinators.

Bryan Aiken, Assistant Athletic Director and Trainer, is Dr. McGahee's co-coordinator. Dr. McGahee explains her job as a COVID coordinator as being the “go-to when it comes to COVID-19. We keep up with the COVID helpline and the COVID email. We answer questions and concerns that students, faculty and staff have when it comes to COVID-19.”

She continued, “When a person on campus tested positive or been exposed, anyone who is associates with the campus, faculty, staff or students they are supposed to contact us, the coordinators to let us know that they are tested positive. That is when we begin contact tracing.”

Dr. McGahee explains that it is important to inform the students, faculty and staff the difference between isolation and quarantine. If a person tested positive and lives on campus, the coordinators will contact housing to process moving the person into isolation. “Student help services call people on campus who are in isolation to check-in and to make sure they are okay.”

As COVID Coordinator, Dr. McGahee and Bryan Aiken receive reports from DHEC (Department of Health and Environmental Control) to inform the school if anyone has tested positive and identified if they have any association with the school.

Overall, Dr. McGahee stated that the campus has done a great job at being responsible when it comes to responding to COVID-19.

“Being a COVID coordinator has been interesting, I learned a lot. I think our job could’ve been much more difficult, had the university population has not been responding well and taking the mitigation policy seriously,” she reflected.

Any student, faculty or staff who have any questions or need to report testing positive for COVID-19, contact this number (803)-641-3271 or email COVID-Helpline@usca.edu.