Dear UW-Green Bay Students, Faculty, and Staff,
As you may have heard, in recent days local health departments across the region have issued Public Health Emergency COVID-19 alerts due to the high levels of COVID-19 cases, which have resulted in increased COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. The recent surge in cases in the region certainly causes all of us to be on high alert. I am sure many of you have wondered how UW-Green Bay plans to respond. At this time, we have decided to stay the course and continue our current state of operations.
In recent weeks, our testing capacity has increased, and our students in Residence Life are being tested each week. They have committed to keeping each other, and the rest of campus safe. We have also expanded testing to others coming on campus. To date, we have an amazingly low positivity rate of 1.13 percent positive for tests conducted. When we do have a positive test result, students are quickly moved into isolation housing, preventing spread to the greatest degree possible.
As of today, fewer than 120 classes are meeting solely in person. Students are using the dining delivery feature in great numbers. There are very strict restrictions on gatherings. As a result, there are very few people on campus. Working together, we have created a “bubble” that is helping to keep our campus community safe. You can review all our testing information on the Phoenix Forward Dashboard.
We are consulting daily with our health partner, Prevea Health. Prevea leaders have encouraged us to stay the course. Part of the strategy is to ensure those who are safely in the bubble on our campus, stay there. While we want to be a thoughtful community partner, we feel the best way we can do this at this time, is to keep doing exactly what we are doing:
- daily monitoring (and swiftly move positive cases to isolation);
- continue as a campus to commit to following the three W’s (Wash your hands, Wear a mask, Watch your distance) even when we are away from campus;
- quarantine and stay away from campus when symptomatic.
We are also encouraging everyone to get a flu shot this year as the yearly influenza can pressure medical facilities that have a greater need to treat COVID-19 patients. Students, please use the Prevea App to schedule one at The Wellness Center. Faculty and staff please seek a flu shot at your local healthcare provider.
Later today, we are going to ask campus operational leaders to review their Resumption of Operation Plans that were submitted in August and make certain that as we continue our state of operations we are also providing the greatest amount of safety for everyone involved. This may include reducing staffing on campus in the coming weeks for offices that have public-facing operations to work more remotely.
We do know this virus can force situations to change quickly. While we continue to monitor and react daily, we continue to plan about what it could mean if COVID-19 gained traction on our UW-Green Bay campuses. In the meantime, we continue to be appreciative of the role you have each taken during this unusual season to protect one another. Please continue to be diligent and be safe.
Best,
Michael Alexander
Chancellor