COVID-19 General Resources
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
General resources
These resources are designed to help Penn State College of Medicine faculty, staff and students as the COVID-19 situation continues to develop.
Looking for a resource that is not listed? Email College of Medicine's Office of Marketing and Communications at comweb@pennstatehealth.psu.edu with suggestions or questions.
Penn State Health COVID-19 guide
Penn State Health has created a guide for the public on COVID-19.
This page includes links to vaccine information, describes the health system's preparedness measures and explains what members of the public should do. It also includes links to updated information from trusted health sources such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Travel policy
Penn State has established comprehensive guidance for both personal and University-affiliated travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. These guidelines have been developed with the health and safety of the entire University community in mind, in accordance with the latest information and requirements from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the governor’s office, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Department of State.
Technology assistance
Information Services (IS) walk-up technical support is available in Harrell Health Sciences Library from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.
You can also connect with IS via the IS Service Portal (see icon on your desktop), email at help@pennstatehealth.psu.edu or phone at 833-577-HELP.
Those who need assistance with remote work or any other IT service, who are not on campus, should call the service desk at 833-577-HELP or email help@pennstatehealth.psu.edu.
Harrell Health Sciences Library services
Harrell Health Sciences Library at the College of Medicine is available 24/7 via badge access to all students, faculty and staff. Visitors are still prohibited.
The library is staffed 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekends.
For reference help, instruction, consultations and other online services, email herref@pennstatehealth.psu.edu.
Child care
A number of child care resources are available for College of Medicine faculty and staff.
Financial guidance
Per University guidance, a cost center has been set up in each department’s 217 general fund named "2020 COVID19 EXPENSE COLLECTOR" to track all expenses related to COVID-19.
Any questions on whether an expense should be identified as COVID-related should be directed to the Controller's Office at 717-531-8500.
Support resources for experiences of bias related to COVID-19
Penn State Health and the College of Medicine are aware of media reports of bias or aggression against the Asian Pacific Islander community, predominantly those of Chinese descent, following the COVID-19 outbreak. The organization does not tolerate nor support any biased, discriminatory or hateful statements, behaviors or interactions toward any individual or group based on their aspect of diversity.
On the rare occasion that an individual treats a member of the Penn State Health/College of Medicine community negatively, such as refusing to interact with that individual because they associate them with COVID-19, the organization has resources available for support.
Specifically for College of Medicine students, the Office for a Respectful Learning Environment is available to provide support.
Forwarding @psu.edu email to @pennstatehealth.psu.edu email
Many University systems used across the College of Medicine will automatically send emails to @psu.edu email addresses.
Faculty or staff who do not regularly check their @psu.edu email separately should make sure they have set up their @psu.edu email to forward to their @pennstatehealth.psu.edu address.
To set up this forwarding:
- Visit accounts.psu.edu/manage/email and log in with the appropriate Penn State Access ID (generally of the format xyz123).
- At the bottom, in the center, click "Change your e-mail forwarding address." Under email forwarding, choose "Internal server" and enter the @pennstatehealth.psu.edu email address (such as jchen@pennstatehealth.psu.edu).
- Hit save.
- Test the forwarding by emailing the @psu.edu email from a personal (non-work) email address and making sure it appears in the @pennstatehealth.psu.edu email.
Reliable state and national data sources
These are reliable sources of information on COVID-19 at a state and national level.
- Coronavirus in Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Department of Health)
- Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic (World Health Organization)
- Worldwide COVID-19 Dashboard (Johns Hopkins University)
Viral Imaginations
The Viral Imaginations: COVID-19 project is an interdisciplinary initiative focused on collecting, displaying, and archiving Pennsylvanians’ first-person, imaginative and artistic expressions made in response to their lived experience of the coronavirus pandemic.
The project is a collaboration between Penn State College of Medicine's Department of Humanities and Penn State College of Arts and Architecture, Penn State Bioethics Program, Penn State Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences and Penn State College of the Liberal Arts.