COVID-19 Policies and Communications

Dear Bereans,

This is the update for Monday, January 18, 2021.  Happy MLK Day, everyone!  I hope you all saw the inspiring comment by Prof. Roy Scudder-Davis.  (I’ve copied it below in case you missed it.)  Please also plan to join the virtual Convocation commemoration this evening at 7:00 pm.  See the earlier email message from Thomas Ahrens for the connection information.

Quarantine and testing update

Among students who remained on campus we have no cases or quarantines.  We have had quite a number of approved early arrivals over the last week; among them we have 41 precautionary quarantines due to recent travel.  No students are in isolation or close-contact quarantine at this point.

As to on-campus employees, most of our prior cases of isolation and close-contact quarantines have been completed, but we have two new staff members (FM) who have tested positive and one faculty member (MAC) in isolation; we have seven on-campus employees in close-contact quarantine.

Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA) of 2021

With the passage of the second round of COVID response legislation two weeks ago, money has again been set aside for enrolled students.  The Department of Education will be reviewing the provisions of the Act and giving institutions the information needed for awarding and disbursing funds to students.   As of now, we do not know when we will receive the information from the Department, nor when we will be able to disburse funds.   When we do have information, we will include a note in the President’s update.

Continue reading Daily COVID-19 Update: January 18, 2021 →

Dear Bereans,

This is the update for Thursday, January 14, 2021

Quarantine and testing update

Among students who remained on campus we have no cases or quarantines.  We have had quite a number of approved early arrivals over the last week.  Among them we have one positive test and seven close contact quarantines and 39 precautionary quarantines due to recent travel.

As to on-campus employees our restart testing program has still so far identified just the one positive case, now among 169 reported tests.  The rest of the report is the same as Monday—we have two staff members in isolation and four in close-contact quarantine.

Continue reading Daily COVID-19 Update: January 14, 2021 →

Dear Bereans,

This is the update for Monday, January 11, 2021

 Quarantine and testing update

Among students who remained on campus we have no cases or quarantines.  We have had quite a number of arrivals since Thursday.  Among them we have one positive test and seven close contact quarantines and 21 precautionary quarantines.

As to on-campus employees our restart testing program has so far identified one positive case among 158 completed tests, an employee who works in the Forestry area.  (The report on Thursday that we had had a positive case among the Seabury faculty turned out to be incorrect.)  We have an additional continuing case in the CDL, and we also have four close-contact quarantines.

Continue reading Daily COVID-19 Update: January 11, 2021 →

Dear Bereans,

This is the update for Thursday, January 7, 2021

Quarantine and testing update

Among students who remained on campus we have no cases or quarantines. The students who returned early have completed their precautionary quarantines, but others will be arriving from time to time.
As to on-campus employees our restart testing program has so far identified one positive case among 40 completed tests, a faculty member who works in Seabury. That person has not been on campus and will not need to be for the month of January. We have an additional continuing case in the CDL, and we also have a new close-contact quarantine, an FM employee who had a family member test positive.

Continue reading Daily COVID-19 Update: January 7, 2021 →

Dear Bereans,

This is the update for Monday, January 4, 2021.  Happy 2021 to all and welcome back to all employees from our extended break.

Quarantine and testing update

Among students who remained on campus we have no cases or quarantines. One student who returned early remains in precautionary quarantine.

As to on-campus employees we have one Sodexo employee in close-contact quarantine—that individual has not been on campus over Break.

Continue reading Daily COVID-19 Update: January 4, 2021 →

Dear Bereans,

This is the update for Thursday, December 31, 2020.  Happy last day of 2020, the year few of us will miss.  One more day, by the way, and it will have been 300 days (!) since the decision to end on-campus instruction.

 Quarantine and testing update

Among students who remained on campus we have no cases or quarantines. Two students returned early; one has completed and the other is in precautionary quarantine.

As to on-campus employees all prior quarantine situations have resolved, but we have a new close-contact quarantine in Public Safety.

Continue reading Daily COVID-19 Update: December 31, 2020 →

Dear Bereans,

This is the update for Monday, December 28, 2020.  Happy 3^rd day of Kwanzaa everyone!  Habari Gani.

 Quarantine and testing update

Among students who remained on campus we have no cases or quarantines. Two students returned early and are in precautionary quarantine.

As to on-campus employees we have no changes from the report on Thursday, a total of two employees in isolation and two in close-contact quarantine.

Continue reading Daily COVID-19 Update: December 28, 2020 →

Dear Bereans,

This is the update for Thursday, December 24, 2020.  Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!

Quarantine and testing update

Among students remaining on campus we have no cases and no students quarantining aside from one student who returned early and is in precautionary quarantine.

As to on-campus employees we have no changes from the report on Monday, a total of two employees in isolation and two in close-contact quarantine.

Continue reading Daily COVID-19 Update: December 24, 2020 →

Dear Bereans,

This is the update for Monday, December 21, 2020.

Quarantine and testing update

Among students remaining on campus we have no cases and no students quarantining.

As to on-campus employees, starting with the CDL, we have one CDL staff member in isolation and one in close contact quarantine.  In other departments we have one on-campus staff member in isolation and we are down to just one close-contact quarantine.

Continue reading Daily COVID-19 Update: December 21, 2020 →

Dear Bereans,

This is the update for Thursday, December 17, 2020.

(I am unable to do an update tomorrow, and the next two Fridays are holidays, so I am switching to a Monday Thursday schedule for updates for the remainder of our winter break.)

Quarantine and testing update

Among students remaining on campus we have no cases and no students quarantining.

As to on-campus employees, starting with the CDL, we have another positive test, so we have three CDL staff members in isolation and four close contacts and one pod currently closed.  In other departments we have one on-campus staff member in isolation and we are down to three close-contact quarantines.

Continue reading Daily COVID-19 Update: December 17, 2020 →