Dear Bereans,
This is the campus update for Tuesday, January 18, 2022.
Group travel
To mitigate risk until the anticipated ebb of the omicron surge, group student travel to conferences and other educational opportunities is cancelled through February 15. To request an exception to this decision, please contact your appropriate AC member.
Quarantine protocols
Please see the attached graphic, which presents the quarantine protocols being recommended by the Kentucky Department of Health. College policy will be to follow this guidance in so far as possible.
Free tests available
Rapid, self-administered tests have been in short supply because of the omicron surge. (We have occasionally been finding them at Walmart, although they are a little pricey.) The federal government is stepping in to assist. Starting tomorrow, Wednesday, January 19th, each household can order four free at-home COVID-19 tests that will be mailed to you. See https://www.covidtests.gov/ for information and, after tomorrow, to place an order. It is said that they will arrive in 2-3 weeks. I am not sure this will work for students living on campus, but it may be of interest to employees.
Quarantine, testing and vaccination update
As of yesterday, we had six on-campus students in isolation, and most will complete their quarantine this week. Among returning students we have heard from 124 so far who have tested positive. At this point, 32 of them have completed their quarantine and will be returning; the other 94 are having to delay their return.
As to on-campus employees, we continue to have quite a number of cases, consistent with what is happening locally. There are a total of 18 positive cases in isolation and one close contact. (Last week it was 15 and one respectively.) The nominal work locations (many folks are working off campus right now) of these cases are as follows: four positives and one close contact in FM; three in the MAC building; two in Draper; and one each in the IS&S, the Farm, Seabury, Lincoln, the CDL, Fairchild, Danforth Tech, Stevenson, and Woods Penniman.
Thankfully, as far as has been reported to us, while most cases among students and employees are symptomatic, only one case seems to be concerning at this point.
Our employee vaccination percentages have stayed the same from last week: overall 92%, and for non-PFE employees 94%. Well done Bereans! Get that booster, too, when you are eligible! Let’s keep all these omicron cases we’ll be having as uncomplicated as possible!
Kentucky and Madison County update
For Madison County, the number of new cases over a week has increased dramatically again from 1,026 to 1,789. All of Kentucky is now far into the red zone.) On the plus side, according to state reporting we have had no additional COVID deaths in the county and the total remains at 221. The vaccination rate in the County hit 50.7% this week, continuing a gradual increase.
Kentucky reported 82,151 new cases for the week ending yesterday, up about 50% from last week. (The rate of increase is decreasing, though, a good sign that suggests we are getting closer to the peak.) The average is now 11,736 new cases/day. The Commonwealth has reported 189 deaths over the last week for an average number of deaths/day of 27, which is s slight improvement over last week. The test positivity rate has continued its dramatic increase and is now over 30%.
Signs continue to support the basic point of view on omicron: it is more contagious, so more cases, but less dangerous, particularly for fully vaccinated people; and the very sharp rise is showing early signs of reaching a peak, after which the number of cases should decline quite rapidly. Fingers crossed!
Stay safe, get vaccinated and boosted, stay in touch,
Lyle Roelofs, President
Berea College