Dear Faculty Senators, Deans, Chairs, and friends,
Here’s a 4-minute video summary of this week’s COVID numbers, which have decreased on-campus, but in the context of increased numbers in the county and region.
Right now, we have fewer campus cases, but many in quarantine. As faculty members, we need to encourage students to follow quarantine, even when that means that we faculty have to rethink assignments or how students demonstrate their skills. We should not be simply telling them to get notes from a friend, especially this semester, when we can’t always build community in our classroom. We don’t want students to break quarantine to attend your course activity in person, no matter how important it is. As the semester nears its end (less than three weeks left!), this will become even more important with papers, projects and final exams.
Being supportive and flexible with students in quarantine and isolation is not just because to be excellent and ethical teachers (although it is), but to encourage everyone to comply with quarantine restrictions. It’s to everyone’s advantage to keep the number of illnesses on campus down. We can see the finish line of a successful fall semester.
On November 9th, another round of free COVID-19 testing will happen at the NEMO fairgrounds.
Advance registration will be required, and will be up on this page soon:
http://www.health.mo.gov/communitytest
Ongoing drive-through COVID is available at the Kirksville Hy-Vee on limited days, sponsored by eTrueNorth
You need to register ahead of time at this link.
https://doineedacovid19test.com/
https://doineedacovid19test.com/Kirksville_MO_2079.html
Flu shots continue to be offered to students at the Health Center, as well as at local pharmacies and health centers. While flu shots don’t protect you against COVID
Please forward this information to your departments or other interested groups of faculty, students, staff, alumni, and friends. Although we aim these videos and sheets at 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)