[Return to Guilford's COVID-19 Hub]
As the College finishes the third week of the 12-week session, we continue to be pleased overall by how our community is responding to the pandemic. This is our sixth weekly update; you can always find our other weekly updates online.
COVID TESTING
This week we continued our random COVID-19 testing. On Friday, Sept. 25, 218 faculty, staff, and students were tested. In addition to random testing, we also had several community members who chose to be tested. We are pleased to share that 218 test results indicated zero positive cases. This is tremendous news.
Here are our current COVID-19 statistics:
- We have had 18 identified positive cases since the initial move-in day, Thursday, Aug. 13.
- We have had 9 positive cases since the beginning of classes, Wednesday, Aug. 19.
- We are currently managing 2 active positive cases.
- We have 18 students who have been identified as close contacts to a positive case and are quarantining for a mandatory 14 days.
TESTING NEXT WEEK
On Tuesday, Oct 6, we will continue our random COVID-19 testing during the 12-week, which will continue regularly throughout the semester. Those who are selected for the random testing will be later this evening. The testing will occur from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the gym area of Ragan Brown Field House. If you are not selected but would still like to be tested, there will be a link in the Sunday and Monday Guilford Buzz to sign up for a timeslot.
OPERATIONAL PHASE
The Health and Safety Task Force recognizes that Governor Roy Cooper recently announced that North Carolina will move to Phase 3 at 5 p.m. today, Oct. 2. While our campus has maintained a steady positive case rate throughout the semester, the phase that the State of North Carolina is operating is just one of the key questions we use to determine if we meet the triggers to move the College’s operational phase to the Moderate phase (yellow). The Task Force has begun conversations about the possibility of moving to the moderate phase in the relative near term. We will continue to operate out of High Alert Level, Low Density Operations Phase (Orange). The Activity Matrix can be viewed here.
FITNESS CENTER REOPENING
The Department of Athletics has re-opened the Fitness Center (weight room) for use by the entire Guilford community. Athletics would like to emphasize that the center is open for everybody, not just student-athletes. If you would like to use the fitness center, you will need to reserve time to work out. The Athletics staff will have to limit occupancy; so please only sign up for a maximum of 2 workout times weekly to allow for broad community use.
Each time slot is separated into either “weightlifting” or “cardio machines” with a maximum of 9 people per zone. Please utilize the link below to sign up for your preferred time, and make sure to read the protocols for Fitness Center use closely at the top of the page.
Guidelines for Fitness Center Use:
- You may arrive 15 minutes early to stretch and maximize your workout time.
- Fitness center will be divided into “cardio machines” and “weightlifting” areas.
- Limit of 9 people per zone.
- Only select max of 2 time slots per week.
- Utilize link below to make time slot selection.
- Review listed protocols closely before making your selection.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO UTILIZE THESE IMPORTANT RESOURCES, AS NEEDED
As we shared last week, the College continues to urge all members of the Guilford community to proactively protect against, monitor and report any potential virus symptoms they experience or observe in others. Here are the links to the forms we mentioned in our last communication.
- COVID-19 Self-Reporting Form
- Self-Reporting Form QR Code (Check your email for code.)
- COVID-19 Anonymous Reporting Form
Guilford College will take every effort to protect personally identifiable information shared in these documents and will not disclose your identity or the identity of anyone with a coronavirus diagnosis unless disclosure to safety and first aid personnel is required for emergency treatment or is otherwise required by law.
DAILY HEALTH SCREENING
In addition to the Anonymous Report and Self Reporting Forms, on Monday, Oct. 5, 2020, you will receive an email to fill out our Daily Health Screening form. We are doing this as part of our commitment to the health and safety of all community members, and in support of the State of North Carolina overcoming this pandemic. In order to enter campus or continue your daily campus experience, you must be free of symptoms potentially related to COVID-19 or have been medically cleared by a physician. This daily health screen will be emailed out to campus members daily beginning next week.
SlowCOVIDNC APP
Lastly, we would like to mention another tool that we recommend that our campus community utilizes to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. SlowCOVIDNC is the official COVID-19 Exposure Notification app for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS), that launched Sept. 22, 2020. It leverages Bluetooth technology to let app users know if they may have been exposed to COVID-19, enabling them to quickly act to protect themselves and those in their community.
SlowCOVIDNC allows users to be notified if they may have been in close contact with someone who has shared a positive COVID-19 test result through the app. Users can anonymously share a positive COVID19 test result to notify others of exposure and help slow the spread of COVID-19. You obtain this app by downloading the free SlowCOVIDNC Exposure Notification app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and enable Bluetooth and Exposure Notifications. Bluetooth must be on for the app to work.
We want to emphasize that the SlowCOVIDNC App is another tool, but we also want to reinforce our own contact tracing and mitigation efforts. We believe that our contact tracing team is the most efficient way to quickly stop the spread of the virus once we are notified of a positive case. We would ask those that do download the app to please call the COVID-19 hotline if you have been notified that you have been in close contact with someone that has shared a positive case result.
Be on the lookout for our next weekly update, to be sent Friday, Oct. 9. More information on the Town Hall will be coming early next week. Remember that if you have any questions related to COVID-19 and our efforts to mitigate the pandemic on campus, please call the COVID-19 Hotline at 336.316.2319. We are all in this together!
Here is the link to today's COVID-19 Town Hall slideshow.
Sincerely,
Jermaine Thomas
Director of Public Safety
Health and Safety Task Force Chair