Weekly Update - September 10
From: President <President@manchester.edu>
Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2020 8:51 AM
To: All Colleagues <AllColleagues@manchester.edu>
Subject: Weekly update - Sept. 10
Dear Colleagues,
We have had a smooth, if hectic, start to fall semester thanks to a tremendous effort by many of you. Thanks for getting us off on a good foot.
COVID-19 Rapid Response Team: I asked two weeks ago for volunteers to help with the COVID-19 Rapid Response Team. This team is helping MU meet daily needs related to the pandemic and supplementing the work of the professional residential life staff.
While we had a good response, we could use more volunteers. Some of the tasks include, among others, helping with testing or contact tracing, making deliveries to students in quarantine and isolation, and making sure that students socially distance during meals and other times when they gather.
If you are interested in helping, it is not too late to complete the survey regarding which tasks you are willing to perform. Thank you to all of the volunteers who are helping protect the MU community from the spread of COVID-19.
Flu shots: Manchester is offering free flu shots to all colleagues again this year. Public health experts are strongly advising people to get flu shots this year because the overlapping of the pandemic with the regular cold and flu season will make diagnoses more difficult. Flu shots help protect us and those around us, and they will help our health care providers.
Please look for an email from Erin Foreman, director of sports medicine in the Center for Health and Sports Medicine, with more details about flu shots and a signup schedule.
Reporting cases: As promised, we are being transparent about our testing data, which is updated once a week and reported here. Both our weekly and overall positivity rates remain below one percent, which is excellent.
Quarantine and isolation: There has been some confusion among students regarding their quarantine and isolation options. If students are asked to quarantine or isolate, they can choose to remain on campus or return home if that is an option. It’s a decision we encourage them to make with their families. Remote learning will be available to them either way.
Thank you to everyone for welcoming our students back and finding new ways to support them and advance the mission of Manchester.
Dave
Dave McFadden
President
Manchester University
260-982-5050