COVID-19 update

Dear students,

As we complete our fifth week of classes, we seem to be turning a corner in both our COVID-19 case count and winter weather! While this is not a time to relax our attention to detail in keeping each other safe, warmer weather does afford more opportunities to safely and responsibly gather outdoors. We are reaching the one-year mark of when students were sent home from College Hill, and we have come a long way together since that time. The administration is always focused on finding the correct balance between the levels of freedom and normalcy we all desire with rules and regulations that can realistically be enforced. It has not been perfect, but we continue to try to find the best approach.

• Sixteen new student positives and one new employee case were found in testing over the past seven days for a positivity rate of 0.7% for students and 0.1% for faculty and staff. 
• We will remain at Operational Level 1 for another week. The reason to remain in this level despite a positivity rate of less than 1% centers on factors such as the number of cases emerging from routine monitoring versus those already in quarantine and an increase in the number of reports regarding non-compliance in physical distancing behaviors. Remaining focused on behaviors that comply with the guidelines will help us move the community to a less restrictive level in the coming weeks.
• With spring on the horizon and warm, sunny weather arriving, don’t forget that properly wearing a mask remains as important as ever. It’s one of the best ways to prevent yourself and others from contracting COVID-19. While masking outdoors is required if you can’t stay six feet from others, indoors masks are always required unless you are in your own room.
• An increasing number of questions regarding travel have come in. Travel is not recommended because it creates an extra layer of risk. That said, students do have a means to request overnight travel. The first step is to fill out this form. Please do not email me with your requests as it slows down review and approval. Students approved to travel must observe every precaution to keep peers and our community safe, including securing the appropriate negative COVID-19 test before returning to campus.

If you have questions, please contact me.

Annette Diorio
Vice President for Campus Life