Weekly COVID-19 Briefing 9/11/2020

Campus Health: Your Role in COVID-19 Prevention

Our Community Health Goal is to sustain on-campus learning throughout the Fall semester while maintaining good community health.  This means minimizing COVID-19 cases on campus. In order to do this, we need full participation from the on-campus community to abide by the established health and safety protocols:

1. Wearing a mask that fully covers your nose and mouth at all times except when you are eating or in the privacy of your own room or office with the door closed.
2. Practicing physical/social distancing of at least six feet.  This should happen in all situations but be especially mindful of this when eating, standing in lines, or conversing with a group.
3. Frequently washing your hands, minimizing touching shared surfaces, and cleaning up after yourself.
4. Completing your daily symptom screening.  Students should do this every day through the Verified App and employees should do this through the form supplied by Human Resources. It is import to represent your symptoms honestly for your own health and the health of the community. Failure to report your symptoms accurately is a violation to campus policy and poses a significant risk to the community.
5. Eliminating non-essential travel to high-risk states and international locations in compliance with the Governor’s Travel Order.  If you must travel to a high-risk state, you must notify residence life (housing@enc.edu – if a campus resident, including Young and Munro GAs and renters) or your supervisor (if an employee) of your trip so a re-entry plan can be establish to comply with the Massachusetts Order.  Not complying with the Massachusetts Travel Order could result in a $500 fine.

On Monday, September 14, I will be communicating more fully to students ways that we can support and encourage each other in these processes and accountability measures the institution has put into place to strengthen our prevention practices.

What is Isolation or Quarantine?

If you test positive for COVID-19 a member of the Health Services Staff will reach out to you with further instructions.  Students that test positive and have chosen to remain on campus will be placed isolation housing.  This means that a student will be confined to a unit in Young Hall with a private bedroom and bathroom (if needed two positive students could share an apartment unit each with a private bedroom but share one bathroom).  In isolation the student should not leave their apartment (unless there is an emergency evacuation like a fire alarm) but can participate in classes remotely if feeling well enough.  Food will be delivered to the apartment three times a day and trash and laundry service will be provided.  A member of the Health Services staff will check-in with students in isolation daily.  Student will leave isolation housing when cleared by Health Services to do so.

A student would be moved to quarantine housing if they are identified as a contact of a person who has tested positive.  A contact is defined as an individual who has been in close proximity (less than 6ft) of an infected individual for an extended period of time (longer than 10 to 15 minutes).  Students identified as a contact will be notified by Health Services for further instruction included the process for moving to quarantine housing.  In quarantine housing, a student should not leave the quarantine floor and should only leave their room to utilize the bathroom.  They will be placed in a private room with a shared bathroom.  Quarantine students will be expected to attend their classes remotely.  Meal delivery will be provided three times a day and trash and laundry service will also be available.  A student will remain in quarantine housing until cleared by Health Services.

COVID-19 Testing Update

Residential student surveillance testing is proceeding well. We are currently testing residential students about every nine days.  By the end of next week, we should be collecting residential samples every seven days. To view the status of testing and recovery please visit the testing dash board at: https://enc.edu/covid-19-campus-testing/  The dash board is updated weekly.

Training Session Completion: Due Today

If you have not already done so please complete the Student and/or Employee COVID-19 Training Course in Canvas. Students you were notified about this training through an email from me, Jeff Kirksey, dated Friday, August 28th. Both students learning on campus and learning on-line are required to complete the training course by September 11, 2020.

If you are having trouble accessing the course please contact:

Student access issues – StudentLife@enc.edu
Employee access issues – hr@enc.edu

Online Resources

The College continues to maintain an active website with timely information related to COVID-19 and institutional response.  This informative site can be found at: https://enc.edu/fall-2020-reopening-plans/

Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire ENC family across the world as we navigate these trying times.  Above all we are grateful for a God who is present in our daily lives and who demonstrates to us how to love and live.

Blessings to you on behalf of the Emergency Response Team,
Jeffrey Kirksey
Vice President for Student Life and Campus Services

23 East Elm Avenue
Quincy, MA 02170-2999
www.enc.edu
617-745-3718