An outside contractor who worked in Kanbar Hall this week tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, COVID-19 Resource Coordinator Mike Ranen announced in an email to the community Thursday evening. As a result, outside contractors will not be permitted to enter campus buildings, effective immediately.

Ranen wrote that the basement of Kanbar Hall was partitioned to limit contractor activity to a designated area and that the individual followed masking and distancing protocols.

“The risk to our community of transmission from this individual is low,” Ranen wrote. “Notwithstanding, this episode raises general concerns about contractor access to our facilities as Maine experiences a new surge of cases.”

In cases where a contractor may need to enter a building for emergency repair or life-safety work, Ranen wrote that the individual must be cleared by a rapid antigen test prior to entering.