| Dec. 23, 2020: Weekly Digest
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- Reporting to UNC Over Winter Break: To continue maintaining a safe and healthy environment on UNC's campus, students, faculty and staff who test positive for COVID-19, are symptomatic and/or were exposed should report these situations to UNC over winter break. This can be done through a confidential form in order for contact tracing to begin, which helps contain the potential spread of the virus by notifying individuals who may have come in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. Campus community members should use the forms found on UNC's Health Alerts webpage.
- New Spring Operations Website: A new website was created to provide campus community members with the most up-to-date information regarding operations before and during the spring semester: unco.edu/spring-operations
UNC will start the spring 2021 semester as planned on January 11, with no changes to the academic calendar, and will provide flexible course delivery options as was done during the final weeks of the fall semester.
Faculty who have in-person or hybrid courses may choose to modify the first two weeks of the semester should they feel that online instruction will serve their learning outcomes and students’ needs during this time. Faculty are encouraged to post their course-delivery plans for the start of the spring semester via Canvas as soon as possible and notify students by email to confirm this information no later than January 8. Information regarding spring course delivery methods can be viewed at: https://www.unco.edu/spring-operations/resources/schedule.aspx
As the semester progresses, UNC will monitor COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and positivity rates and will reassess campus operations and course delivery options for any necessary adjustments.
- Hours of Operations for Spring: University offices and services should report how they're operating for the spring semester, updating information such as hours of operations, online, in-person or a mix of services so that the campus community is informed of each office's operating procedures. If you're a staff or faculty member in charge of an office or a program, please submit any changes via the online form.
- COVID-19 Vaccination Update: Based on the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)'s and the state of Colorado's vaccination prioritization tables, UNC has campus community members across the spectrum in terms of when they can expect to receive the vaccinations. Health care providers and first responders on campus are considered high priority, and frontline staff, such custodians and dining staff, also fall under higher priority groups. The majority of UNC's campus population — healthy individuals under the age of 65 — fall under the third tier, which means vaccines are expected to become available by late spring or early summer for the majority of campus.
UNC will be prepared to quickly vaccinate as many campus community members as possible when possible.
Learn more about the vaccine in Colorado
Read CDC's COVID-19 vaccination recommendations and information
- UNC COVID Status: It's been 10 months since COVID-19 started to impact the campus community. UNC thanks all of its students, faculty and staff for helping to keep one another healthy and safe throughout the fall semester. The spring semester will start as scheduled on Jan. 11 with no changes to the academic calendar, and similar to the fall semester, UNC is allowing faculty the latitude to adjust their instructional modalities to meet the health and safety needs of their classes as well as learning objectives. Faculty are encouraged to begin contacting their students about course expectations.
Most current data from UNC related to COVID-19:- New positive cases with an on-campus impact from Dec. 16-22: 9
- Total number of new COVID-19 tests administered Dec. 16-22 through the Student Health Center: 8
- Total number of screening tests administered last week:
- Athletics: 273 (2 positive cases)
- Screening tests on students who live in university housing will resume in January.
- Total number of COVID-19 active/resolved cases diagnosed from the first day of the fall semester, Aug. 24, to Dec. 22 with an on-campus impact: 457
(UNC only includes confirmed cases through which other members of the university community may have been directly exposed to COVID-19)
- Number of the designated isolation/quarantine rooms being utilized on campus as of Dec. 22: 1 of the 80 rooms
(Not everyone in these rooms has tested positive for COVID-19 at this time, as some may be quarantining as a preventative measure.)
- Definitions for "isolation" and "quarantine" per the CDC:
- Isolation separates sick people with a contagious disease (a confirmed COVID-19 case) from people who aren't sick.
- Quarantine separates and restricts the movement of people who were exposed to someone who was diagnosed with COVID-19 to see if they become symptomatic and/or test positive.
- COVID-19 Community Testing Kiosk from Dec. 16-22:
- Total number of tests received: 188
- Total number of positive test results: 5
- Winter Holiday Guidelines: As we approach the winter holidays, it’s important to think about the best ways to keep our loved ones and communities safe during celebrations. Colorado is seeing more new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations than ever before. About 40% of people infected with COVID-19 don't have symptoms and may not know they’re infected but can still spread the virus to their loved ones, putting them at risk of serious illness or death.
More winter holiday tips from the state of Colorado
Visit the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) holiday guidelines
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Student-Centered Topics- Petition for Release: If you live in university housing and aren't planning to return for the spring semester because your entire course schedule is online, you must complete the Petition for Release form before the start of the spring semester on January 11 to be considered for release from your spring housing and dining contract.
If your petition is approved and/or you check out after January 11, you will receive a prorated credit for spring housing and dining charges.
You should also contact your Neighborhood Desk for further instructions and follow UNC's check-out procedures on move out.
- UNC's Quarantine and Isolation Planning Guide: UNC uses public-health guidelines related to isolation and quarantine to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 among its campus community members. The university has developed a Quarantine and Isolation Planning Guide for Students to provide students who are living in university housing with information and resources about quarantine and isolation.
- Food Access Assistance: Students in need of immediate assistance in accessing food while Bear Pantry and the dining halls are closed over winter break can request a bag of non-perishable food items provided by Bear Pantry.
Students living in campus housing can contact the Basin Neighborhood Front Desk at 970-351-2875, and students living off-campus can contact the UNC Police Department at 970-351-2245 for access to Bear Pantry bags.
- Screening tests for students who live in university housing will resume in January.
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