Dear Bereans,
This is the campus update for Monday, February 7, 2022.
Quarantine, testing and vaccination update
The news around student quarantines continues to improve. The five students from last week have completed their quarantine, and we have only one new case among on-campus students.
As to on-campus employees, including those working remotely at present, we have achieved excellent improvement there, as well. There are a total of four positive cases in isolation and two close contacts. (Last week it was 15 and three respectively.)
There are another four positive cases amongst employees who work off-site, mostly with Partners for Education (down one from last week). I reported last week that one of the off-site PFE employees had needed to be hospitalized, and I am happy to report this week that that individual has been released from the hospital and is recovering.
The nominal work locations (many folks are working off campus still) of the four employee isolation cases are as follows: two in Facilities; and one each in Woods Penn and Danforth Technology. The two close contacts are in Student Life and are related to the new student case we have.
Our employee vaccination percentages have stayed about the same from last week: overall 92%, and for non-PFE employees 94%. Well done, Bereans! Get that booster, too, when you are eligible!
It would be great to get down to no cases at all among on-campus employees and students, but we have surely made excellent progress over the last several weeks. Thanks to ALL BEREANS for doing your utmost to protect yourself and the community!
GREAT NEWS for (some) students from the Student Financial Aid Office
1) New, returning, and any continuing students who did not receive a HEERF distribution in early January will receive funds from the American Rescue Plan (ARP or HEERF III) early next week for spring-term expenses. As stated in the ARP legislation, students are to use these funds for Cost of Attendance items, such as housing, meals, books and supplies, child care, etc. These are grant funds and do not have to be repaid, nor do students have to provide receipts of expenditures. All students are eligible for these funds, including international and DACA students.
2) If you took a loan for spring term housing and meals, contact this office at finaid@berea.edu to find out how to pay back the loan with these funds. If you have a parent payment plan or a payroll deduction for this term, you can make the payment with these funds when they hit your bank early next week.
The chart below outlines the amounts each student will receive based on need as determined by 2021-22 Expected Family Contribution (EFC):
| EFC | Disbursement Amount |
| $0 | $875 |
| $1 – 2999 | $825 |
| $3000 – 5830 | $675 |
| $5831 – 9999 | $725 |
| $10,000 and above | $575 |
3) Because the spring term began on-line, most students missed a week of work. Students will have their spring-term labor expectation reduced by 10 hours. However, knowing that students depend on these earnings, we have included an extra $75 in the funds above to help compensate for the loss of income. (If you already received your HEERF payment in early January, that payment DID include this extra $75.)
If you have questions about these funds, please contact us at finaid@berea.edu.
Kentucky and Madison County update
For Madison County, the number of new cases over a week has continued to decrease from last week, now quite significantly from 1,686 to 1,096. All of Kentucky remains far into the red zone. As usual, COVID deaths lag cases, and even though our number of new cases is down appreciably, we have had 10 additional COVID deaths in the county since last week for a total now of 233. Sadly, this is the largest number of deaths in a week in our county in some time. The vaccination rate in the County hit 51.5% this week, continuing a very gradual increase.
Kentucky reported 45,513 new cases for the week ending yesterday, which is a significant decrease from last week, by nearly 50%. The Commonwealth reported 196 deaths over the last week which is just about the same as the preceding week. The test positivity rate has continued to decrease from 28.5% last week to 23.5% this week.
It is encouraging that the rate of new cases in the state, in our county and on campus are all decreasing substantially. Hopefully, death rates will follow that reduction with the usual two-week lag.
Exciting announcement from HR
I hope all staff saw the email last week announcing the new pilot Adjustable Work Policy approved by the Administrative Committee. The Policy was presented in January’s Staff Forum last Friday, January 28, 2022. Please visit the Staff Forum webpage to view the presentation and meeting recording if you were not able to attend the live presentation.
Also HR has launched a webpage to house resources regarding the new Adjustable Work Policy. This website will also be available from Human Resources’ homepage.
Announcement from the AC
The AC has decided to end the requirement of surveillance testing for vaccinated students and on-campus employees. Students and employees should seek testing only if they experience COVID symptoms and positive test results should be reported immediately (employees to HR, students to Student Life).
Employees returning from working remotely for a period of time should report a negative test result before resuming on-campus work on February 14.
Unvaccinated students and employees are still required to undergo weekly testing. Please see the full policy statement.
Stay safe, get vaccinated and boosted, stay in touch,
Lyle Roelofs, President
Berea College