COVID-19 update, 11/11/2020

Dear Faculty Senators, Deans, Chairs, and friends,

Here’s a 7-minute video summary of this week’s COVID numbers, which remain flat on campus, even as the county numbers have exploded.

The county makes a daily report here:

https://adair.lphamo.org/2019-novel-coronavirus-update/

Our relative success on campus is due to following the ideas from that swiss cheese model.

No method is perfect, but by doing “all the things,” we can help keep things under control.

https://www.truman.edu/coronavirus/covid-19-working-group-videos/swiss-cheese-model/

With only two weeks left in the semester, we encourage faculty to:

  • Encourage students to follow the in-class policies ALL THE TIME, whether at the grocery store, Hy-Vee, a student organization, or church.
  • Think about your own “endgame.”
    1. Our revised schedule is confusing, make sure students are clear about your due dates, revisions, and plans for your final (online or in person).
    2. Think about your options for the “dead week.” While we shouldn’t be presenting any new material during the week AFTER thanksgiving, faculty can allow students to slide some deadlines back into that week (up to their scheduled final exam time).
    3. Invite students to talk to you about an incomplete. Maybe they can finish over the longer-than-usual holiday. Expect more requests than usual, given the numbers who had to quarantine multiple times, etc.
    4. Think about what makes sense for your class. Some assignments (presentations, etc.) are tricky to figure out a delay, while others (paper revisions, reflective writing assignments) might be relatively easy to push back to the dead week or an incomplete.
  • Consider plans for Thanksgiving. If you are planning a family Thanksgiving dinner, consider some sort of mini self-quarantine.
    1. You wouldn’t even need to be in full lockdown, but following the campus policies ALL THE TIME for 10-14 days before you travel could help keep your family and friends safe.
    2. Talking to students about this in class could help them make good choices.
    3. Even if you are asymptomatic, you don’t want to be a spreader.

Please forward this information to your departments or other interested groups of faculty, students, staff, alumni, and friends. Although we aim this material at our faculty, please share the video and this information with students in your classes and elsewhere.

Our earlier videos and Tip Sheets are available here:

https://www.truman.edu/coronavirus/covid-19-working-group-videos/

If there are other questions or things you’d like to know more about, please contact us at: ndmoore@truman.edu

-Faculty Senate COVID-19 Working Group
(Nancy Daley-Moore, Christine Harker, and Scott Alberts)
Faculty Senate Working Group - chart Nov 11_2021