Frequently Asked Questions

LSE Trace is the School’s system for tracing people with COVID-19 symptoms and those that they have been in contact with. Its aim is to protect our students and staff by identifying and isolating infection.

LSE Trace will also alert us to members of our community who are unwell and may need additional support.

By working together we can help ensure that our campus is safe and can stay open.

LSE Trace has several components:

1. You will be required to complete a weekly Wellness Check-in every Monday morning, which you will receive via your LSE email account. This will ask you if you are experiencing symptoms of, or have tested positive for, COVID-19 or are self-isolating. You must fill this in every week - even if you have not been on campus and/or do not any have plans to visit.

2. If you begin experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, or test positive, between receiving the weekly email Wellness Check-ins, you should complete the Report My Symptoms form for staff or for students.

3. If you report that you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms either via the weekly Wellness Check-in or the Report My Symptoms form for students or staff, and you indicate that you have been in contact with other members of the LSE community, you will receive a phone call from an LSE Contact Tracer. They will ask you information about where you have been and who you have been with recently. This information will be used to alert others who may have been exposed to infection. LSE Contact Tracers can also help with arranging a test if necessary.

4. LSE Contact Tracers will alert members of the LSE community who may need to self-isolate because they have been exposed to someone who has COVID-19 symptoms.

If you feel unwell, seek advice from the National Health Service (NHS) by calling 111 or use the 111 coronavirus online tool.

No, you do not need to fill in both forms. An LSE Contact Tracer will be in touch with you if you have reported that you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms through either the weekly Wellness Check-in or the Report My Symptoms form for students or staff, and you have indicated that you have been in contact with other members of the LSE community.

We consulted behavioural scientists when designing LSE Trace and they told us that a weekly prompt would be the most effective way to remind people that they need to let the School know if they start to exhibit COVID-19 symptoms. If you are well, the Check-in will only take a few moments to complete.

An LSE Contact Tracer will call you if you have reported symptoms or a positive test via the weekly Wellness Check-in or the Report My Symptoms forms.

An LSE Contact Tracer will call you if you have been in close contact with someone who has reported that they have symptoms of, or have tested positive for, COVID-19. In this instance you will receive an accompanying email from LSE.Trace@lse.ac.uk. If you do not receive this email you can request the contact tracer confirms their identity via this email address.

Contact tracers may ask you to confirm your address if you live in halls of residence. However, please note that they will never ask you for any kind of payment – including for a COVID test – or for any of your passwords.

If you have COVID-19 symptoms you should book a test immediately on campus or via your nearest NHS testing centre. 

You should go directly to your test without going anywhere else and return to your accommodation immediately after your test. It is essential that you do not leave isolation for any other reason – this is to protect others around you.

Once you have been tested, you will get your result within 15-20 minutes. If you test positive for COVID-19 you should follow the advice on the NHS website to self-isolate.

You should also complete the LSE Report My Symptoms form for students or staff.

If you are living with someone who has symptoms or has tested positive, you should be self-isolating for the required time as outlined by LSE Trace and / or the NHS. You should not get a test as you’ll be required to continue isolating in case you develop symptoms. 

LSE Trace will work in parallel with the NHS Test and Trace service and will help us to take swift action to keep the School community safe.

LSE Trace will alert our staff and students if they have had close contact with someone showing symptoms, but who may have not yet tested positive. The NHS Test and Trace service will only alert those who have had close contact with people who have tested positive for COVID-19.

LSE Trace will also show us if there are any areas of the School which need to be deep cleaned.

In addition, it will alert the School to members of our community who are unwell and may need additional support.

If you test positive for COVID-19 the NHS Test and Trace service will contact you and ask where you have been with recently and who you were with. For more details see the NHS Test and Trace page.

No, you cannot opt out of LSE Trace. As a member of the LSE community it is your responsibility to help keep the campus safe and protect the health of your peers and colleagues.

All staff and students must fill in the weekly Wellness Check-in that they will receive every Monday morning. Completion of the form will be being monitored by the School.

If you start to experience COVID-19 symptoms you must fill in the Report my symptoms page for students or staff. You need to do this even if you have not been on campus recently.

Yes, you should fill in the weekly Wellness Check-in and/or the Report My Symptoms form for students or staff even if you have not been on campus and/or do not plan to visit.  

If you indicate that you have symptoms or have tested positive for COVID-19 but have not been in contact with anyone from the LSE community, you will not receive a call from an LSE Contact Tracer. However, this information will help us identify members of the community who are unwell and may need additional support.

If you are in good health, the weekly Check-in will only take a few moments to complete.

Yes, you should fill in the weekly wellness survey and/or the Report My Symptoms form even if you are studying or working at home and have not been to campus.  

If you indicate that you have symptoms or have tested positive for COVID-19 but have not been in contact with anyone from the LSE community, you will not receive a call from an LSE Contact Tracer. However, this information will help us identify members of the community who are unwell and may need additional support.

If you do not have an LSE email account, your line manager will make arrangements for it to be completed in an alternative way for you. If you develop COVID-19 symptoms your line manager will need to report this to the LSE Trace team on your behalf.

If you are not receiving the weekly Wellness Check-in please contact ARD Systems.

If you have an LSE email account and you are not receiving the weekly Wellness Check-in, please email ARD Systems.

We urge you to complete the weekly Wellness Check-in. If you are well, it only takes a few moments to complete. We can only make LSE COVID secure if the whole community acts together

Completion of the weekly Wellness Check-in will be being monitored by the School.

You will only need to scan a QR code and submit a seat number in a few rooms where the seats are 1.5 metres apart because you are considered a ‘close contact’ for tracing purposes (in the event that someone sitting next to you begins to experience COVID-19 symptoms). This information will help LSE Contact Tracers identify and alert you swiftly if you have been exposed to infection.

This information is logged for tracing purposes only. It will only be used to identify you in the event that you have been exposed to someone who may be infectious. 

If you report that you have COVID-19 symptoms and indicate that you have been in contact with other members of the LSE community, an LSE Contact Tracer will contact you by phone in the first instance. They will ask you information about where you have been and who you have been with recently. They will use this information to alert others that may have been exposed to infection, although your name will not be shared. 

We treat your information confidentially and it will only be shared on a need-to-know basis.

LSE Trace will not share your identity when they call or email people you have been in close contact with. However, we encourage you to let anyone you have been in close contact with know as soon as possible so they can isolate. To make this easy you could forward the email you will receive from LSE Trace (you will receive this in addition to a phone call).

If you live in halls of residence, members of your household will be notified if you report symptoms or test positive.

If you are a student, the LSE Contact Tracer will let your department know that you will be unable to attend teaching until a certain date (the end of your required isolation), but not the reason why. You may also like to contact your department yourself to let them know that you are unable to attend teaching.

Members of staff must let their line managers know that they are in isolation.

If you have been exposed to someone with symptoms of or who has tested positive for COVID-19, an LSE Contact Tracer will contact you via telephone to let you know you must self-isolate until a certain date. However, we urge students who test positive to let their housemates and any other close contacts know as soon as possible so they can isolate. They could do this by forwarding the email they will receive from LSE Trace to these close contacts.

If you live in halls of residence and a member of your household reports symptoms, a member of the residences team will notify you that you need to self-isolate. 

You can book a test on campus. Once you have been tested, you will get your result within 15-20 minutes. If you test positive for COVID-19 you should follow the advice on the NHS website to self-isolate. 

Everyone can take a test, but we will prioritise those with symptoms or people who think they may have been in contact with someone who has developed COVID-19.  

While relevant people at the School will be informed that you will not be able to attend teaching or work until a certain date, what we disclose is strictly governed by data protection principles.  However, we do encourage you to contact your department yourself.