Dear Bereans,<\/p>\n
This is the\u00a0campus\u00a0update for\u00a0Monday,\u00a0January 31,\u00a02022.\u00a0\u00a0I apologize for its length.<\/p>\n
Madison County Public Health has announced a giveaway of rapid, at-home COVID tests.\u00a0 They are free with a limit of 2 kits (4 tests) per household, until quantities are exhausted.\u00a0 Here are the locations and times for the giveaways.<\/p>\n
| TUESDAY<\/strong><\/p>\n February 1, 2022<\/strong><\/td>\n February 3, 2022<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n 214 Boggs Lane<\/strong><\/p>\n RICHMOND, KY<\/strong><\/td>\n 1001 Ace Drive<\/strong><\/p>\n BEREA, KY<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n and<\/strong><\/p>\n 1:00 PM \u2013 4:00 PM<\/strong><\/td>\n and<\/strong><\/p>\n 1:00 PM \u2013 4:00 PM<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n <\/p>\n The news around student quarantines is pretty positive, so fingers crossed that this improvement will continue!\u00a0 Eleven students from last week completed quarantine (six on-campus and five off).\u00a0 We have had new cases among on-campus students, five altogether, four of whom are in isolation on campus and one off.\u00a0 Among returning students, a total of 155 had positive tests and had to delay, and, at this point, only three students have not yet been able to join us on campus.<\/p>\n As to on-campus employees, we continue to have quite a number of cases, consistent with what is happening locally.\u00a0 There are a total of 15 positive cases in isolation and three close contacts.\u00a0 (Last week it was 17 and two respectively.)<\/p>\n There are seven positive cases amongst employees who work off-site, mostly with Partners for Education (down one from last week).\u00a0 One of the latter cases has resulted in hospitalization, our first in the last several months, so please keep that person in your thoughts and prayers.<\/p>\n The nominal work locations (many folks are working off-campus still) of the 15 isolation cases are as follows: three positives in Seabury Center; two each in the CDL, Hafer-Gibson, and Facilities; and one each in the Farm\/Farm Store, Stephenson, the MAC building, Marketing and Communications, Strategic Initiatives, and Danforth Technology.\u00a0 The close contacts are one each in Facilities, Stevenson, and the Library.<\/p>\n Our employee vaccination percentages have stayed about the same from last week: overall 92%, and for non-PFE employees 94%.\u00a0 \u00a0 Well done, Bereans!\u00a0 Get that booster, too, when you are eligible!\u00a0 Let\u2019s keep all these omicron cases we\u2019re having as uncomplicated as possible!<\/p>\n We want to inform all students about a campus-wide program coming soon to assist all students in Kick-Starting Connections at Berea College after a bumpy start to the semester.<\/p>\n Students can choose from 5 different times during Feb 10-12, to sign up to attend the kick-off event.\u00a0\u00a0During the kick-off sessions, students will put together a \u201ckit\u201d that will help them connect \u2013 to others and themselves.\u00a0 The kit contains a reusable lunch bag, grief\/gratitude jar, stickers with mindfulness skills outlined, post cards to send, worry stone, and a selection of reminder cards that they can choose from to remind them of what is important.\u00a0 The kit also includes a \u201cConnection Grid\u201d of 25 things that can be done to foster connection. Once completed, the student submits their grids and earns a t-shirt.\u00a0 The grid has things to do such as invite someone you don\u2019t know well to join you and your friends at your lunch table, turn off your electronic devices for an hour, share a compliment, etc.\u00a0 Our goal was to create a program that continues beyond one event. The grief\/gratitude jar helps with this as well as the grid.\u00a0 To start, the jars will be used to collect slips of paper noting any griefs or disappointments experienced.\u00a0 At a future event, these slips of paper will be burned. Then, the jar is converted in a gratitude jar \u2013 where positives things are noted and collected.<\/p>\n This program is sponsored by HEART, Thrive!, and Counseling Services and is made possible by a generous donor whose goal is to promote the mental health of all of our students.<\/p>\n To sign up for one of the kick-off events, go to Berea Engage<\/a>.<\/p>\n For Madison County, the number of new cases over a week has continued to decrease from last week, just a bit though from 1,717 to 1686.\u00a0 All of Kentucky remains far into the red zone.\u00a0 According to state reporting we have had one additional COVID death in the county for a total now of 223.\u00a0\u00a0 The vaccination rate in the County hit 51.3%\u00a0this week, continuing a gradual increase.<\/p>\n Kentucky reported 75,507\u00a0new cases for the\u00a0week\u00a0ending\u00a0yesterday, which is actually a small increase from last week.\u00a0 The Commonwealth reported\u00a0197 deaths over the last week\u00a0which is also an increase.\u00a0 On the positive side the\u00a0test positivity rate finally decreased a bit and is now about\u00a028.5%.<\/p>\n While the state data is not yet showing a drop in cases, the improvements in both the county rates and our on-campus rates are promising.<\/p>\n Some Bereans, having learned that the cloth masks we depended on in earlier phases of the pandemic are not recommended for protecting the wearer from the omicron variant, have been asking questions about the efficacy of various available masks.\u00a0 College staff have gathered some information that may be of interest.\u00a0 Please see the attached .pdf for some useful information.\u00a0 N-95\u2019s, which are readily available in small quantities, are the best choice, although if fitted properly, they are not as comfortable to wear because of the lower breathability.<\/p>\n The College considered providing N-95\u2019s for all Bereans but elected not to because there are stringent legal requirements about fit tests that are not feasible for us.\u00a0 We therefore ordered a large quantity of ASTM Level 2 masks and have distributed these to everyone.\u00a0 Note that they do have high efficiency in filtering particles at the 0.1 micron level, although not quite as good as the N-95\u2019s.<\/p>\n This comparison does not mention KN-95\u2019s, which are the Chinese version of N-95\u2019s and are more readily available.\u00a0 The following NYT article gives some useful information<\/a>.<\/p>\n Finally, there is the issue of how often you can wear an N-95 or a KN-95 mask before disposing of it.\u00a0 Medical personnel wear a mask only once, but CDC advice suggests that for the rest of us multiple uses until the mask is dirty or difficult to breathe through are OK<\/a>.<\/p>\n I personally find the KN-95 to be a good compromise between protection and comfort.<\/p>\n |