COVID-19 Update

November 20, 2020

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

Thank you to every member of our campus community who has contributed to our being able to complete the semester in-person. As we faced the challenge of teaching and learning in a pandemic, while managing active cases on our campus, achieving our goal of an in-person learning experience is something we should acknowledge as a community.

Many of you are home or will be heading home soon. Your resiliency and adherence to recommended public health practices will be as important in the days ahead as they were for the past three months. When you arrive home, the most important action to take is to limit your interactions with family as you reenter their environment. We strongly suggest that you quarantine once you arrive and know your latest test result before you socialize with friends and family.

This is particularly important as we have learned that the Broad Institute experienced a delay over the last day affecting all colleges that are sending COVID tests to them for analysis. The delay has been addressed, but it has resulted in a backlog resulting in a delay of receiving test results from yesterday and today. We anticipate this delay might affect some students as they prepare to leave campus. Therefore, students will still be able to get a grab-n-go meal at Mather on Saturday, November 21, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

At this moment we currently have 17 cases active cases (12 students and 5 staff/affiliates), with 10 of those individuals isolating on campus and 7 at home. The campus alert level remains at yellow while we wait for test results from yesterday and today. Please visit our dashboard for additional information.

As we complete in-person classes today, we extend our appreciation to all of you for maintaining your COVID testing schedule this semester. The testing plan was an important part of our ability to mitigate the impact of COVID and ensure the overall well-being of our community. We will provide another update in the coming days. In the meantime, please travel safely and take care.

Sincerely,

Joe DiChristina, Vice President for Student Success and Enrollment Management
Jason Rojas, Chief of Staff and Associate Vice President for External Relations