Dear Students,
In a recent conversation with the Dean of Students Student Advisory Group, I learned that students may not be aware of the risks associated with trips to Boston or the surrounding areas. This week is a particularly difficult week and I urge you to be aware: The COVID-positive rate has increased in Massachusetts. Yesterday the state of Massachusetts announced that its number of positive cases was 708, the highest since May. And the city of Boston has moved to the Red Zone, indicating its highest rate of infection. The mayor of Boston recently expressed concern that college students and others must heed health and safety recommendations.
If you have been in Boston in the last week, you should be very careful to prevent the possible spread of infection. Be sure to attend your testing appointments, and be mindful about reporting any symptoms on the daily health check app. Follow the latest reports on the Wellesley Dashboard on the Keeping Wellesley Healthy website.
Other Weekly Updates:
Social events on campus are happening. Don’t forget to check the WEngage app for programs on and off campus. Events are happening every weekend—including outdoor movies.
New library hours: We received student feedback that there is a need for more study space and there has been a request to expand library hours. In order to explore this option, we will run a two-week pilot. At the end of the two-week pilot, we will make recommendations on how to proceed further. Communication directly from the library is coming soon!
Eating with block mates is essential. Sitting less than 6 feet from each other with masks off is a clear opportunity for transmission of disease which is why we have stated that dining must occur with your blockmates to limit the group of people with whom you have your mask off. We have recently learned that some blocks are too small to adhere to these requirements. We are working on a plan to allow you to specify your meal blocks. More to come on this in the coming week.
More changes to dining are coming next week. Based on an adherence to block dining, the tables and seating will soon be rearranged to allow blocks to sit closer at tables in the dining hall to support community dining. Students can come to the dining hall when they like and check into a table (for contact tracing purposes). Tables will seat 2-4 students.
We are almost through the first term! Hang in there!
Sincerely,
Sheilah Shaw Horton
Vice President and Dean of Students
