Dear Faculty and Staff
Here’s what’s going on with COVID-19 cases on campus this week.
This link will play a 3.5 minute video about this week’s COVID-19 numbers, and what we think is coming our way.
In short, numbers went down this week from 18 to 11 student cases, but we still worry for the coming weeks. The previous 18 cases were the “end of the bloom” for several large pods, while the 11 are almost all cases in new pods. That means we expect those cases to spread to roommates, significant others, and others within their pods.
We still have no evidence that any cases have spread in classrooms and other areas at Truman where we follow the guidelines. The advice from that guidance is still good: distance, masks, and limiting contact with people outside an intentional pod.
No layer of the “swiss cheese” is perfect, but taken together, we can slow or even stop the spread of COVID-19.
https://www.truman.edu/coronavirus/covid-19-working-group-videos/swiss-cheese-model/
Finally, some people at Truman have already gotten the COVID-19 vaccine, particularly those who work in health-related areas. We have no definitive date for when the rest of us will be able to get it, but we do want to recommend that you get the vaccine as soon as you are able.
Here is the updated case count chart.
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Although we aim these videos and sheets for faculty and staff, please do share this information or the video with students in your classes and elsewhere. This information is shared with the student Blackboard page and sent to all faculty and staff at Truman.
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)