COVID-19 precautions and reopening update

By Gracyn Shulista (gshulist@jccc.edu). Shulista is the editor-In-chief for The Campus Ledger. This is her fourth semester at the college. She enjoys covering different students and clubs on campus. She spends most of her time taking care of her dogs and reading about politics.

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Wellness check reminders are posted on door ways and around campus to help stop the spread. Photo by Sidney Henkensiefken.
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Washing hands frequently, wearing a mask and staying six feet apart have all become a part of our daily lives when we leave our homes and going on campus is no different. The college is currently in step three of reopening, there are some students and staff on campus, but the college has not fully reopened in person.

“We are still in step three even though we have done different versions of step three,” Alisa Pacer, emergency preparedness manager, said. “For the necessary teaching and learning that needs to happen on campus, we are allowing that. Everything else is reviewed and evaluated on a case-by-case basis. We are operating on 80% online and 20% in person come next week when we go back in session.”

The college’s website shows the steps of reopening as well as what precautions need to be used by students, staff and faculty when going on campus.

Students are allowed on campus for many reasons, whether it be to go to class, attend an appointment with one of the student resources or study in the library. There are some things to keep in mind before going on campus and to use while there.

“Even before you come on campus, we need you to get on the college’s website and search for the daily wellness check and follow it,” Pacer said. “It’s basically a screening form you do on your honor system before you come to campus just have an awareness that if you are sick you shouldn’t come to campus.”

Once a student arrives on campus there are more precautions the student should be aware of.

“Screen before you come to campus and then when you get to campus be ready to wear a facial covering, make sure you have that on before entering any of the buildings,” Pacer said. “Be responsible before you come to campus so we can protect that critical teaching and learning that does have to happen on campus.”

The college has also put it different things to help stop the spread of COVID-19 on campus such as plexiglass barriers and temperature screeners at the main entrances.

“You walk around campus where there are a lot of interaction and you will see those plexiglass shields,” President Andrew Bowne said. “If you are on campus you will see by every doorway there are, since late in the fall, there the thermometers where you hold your wrist out and it reads your temperature and it will tell you if your temperature is in a normal range or not.”

If a student has been on campus and contracts COVID-19 there are a couple of things they can do to help the college stop the spread.

“We have partnered with the county to aid in contact tracing for just the JCCC campus,” Pacer said. “We assist for things that happen on our campus so we would like to know about a positive COVID test. As of Spring 2021 there is a new email address called studentcovidreporting@jccc.edu and that goes to a group of individuals that are approved contact tracers that will take that report and work with that student so we know if they are quarantining correctly and when they are allowed back on campus based on county protocols and we will communicate that clearly with their instructors as well. In addition to the email, we are working on an intake form called a dynamic form to help evaluate the case and the campus risk and make a recommendation based on county guidelines and working with that student to make sure they do not return before they should.”

 

By Gracyn Shulista

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