Use QR Codes for Contact Tracing on Campus

A QR code is a square barcode that students can scan with the campus app. Contact Trace Plus uses QR codes to identify physical locations on and around campus. When a student scans a QR code, the app records that the student was at a particular place at a particular time. 

As a campus app administrator, you receive anonymized information to use in contact tracing. For example, you can know who else was at that location at the same time as a student who tested positive for COVID-19.

Using QR codes for contact tracing on campus is an important part of safe reopening. Here are the steps:

1. Make a plan (including a naming convention) for where and how to use QR codes
2. Create QR codes to represent locations on campus
3. Download, print and post the codes
4. See the data you gather

Make a Plan

You can make the most effective use of QR codes if you start with a plan. Before you start, you will want to think about what locations you want to identify with QR codes, and how you will name them. Remember, you could potentially have tens or hundreds of QR codes. Thinking in advance about how to manage the codes will save you time in the long run. You will also want to think about how you will physically print the codes and make them resistant to wear and tear. Lastly, you will want to think about the time needed to create QR codes, print them, and post them around campus. 

For insights into this and other important questions, please see: 

• Best Practices for Placing QR Codes on Campus

Create QR Codes to Represent Locations on Campus

Once you know what QR codes you need to let you effectively monitor students’ movements for contact tracing, the next step is to create the codes. Campus Cloud includes three options for creating QR codes quickly as part of a safe reopening plan. You can use locations you have already created on the campus map, and create QR codes to post at each of those locations. You can import locations from a comma-separated values (CSV) file. Or, you can create locations one by one.

For more information, please see: 

• Create QR Codes

Download, Print, and Post the Codes

After creating your QR codes, you can download them to your computer. From there, print the codes and prepare them for use on campus (for example, by laminating them). Then, post each code at its corresponding location around campus. 

See the Results

Students can scan a QR code using the campus app. This checks the student into that location, recording that the student was at a particular place at a particular time. This information is available to you in Campus Cloud, in an anonymized form. 

For more information, please see:

• See a list of students checked into a location

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We're all in this together. If you have questions about Contact Trace Plus, or if you want to help others by sharing how you're using the Ready platform to safely reopen campus, please leave a message in the comments below.