To: Wellesley College Faculty and Staff
From: Piper Orton, Vice President for Administration and Finance and Treasurer
Re: Health and Safety Update for the Fall
Date: July 23, 2021
Over the next few weeks we will be providing several updates about health and safety on campus and what working at Wellesley will be like this fall. The best way to protect our community as we return to campus is to achieve a vaccination rate of at least 90 percent for faculty and staff. Reaching this threshold, combined with the vaccination mandate we have instituted for our students, will help us greatly reduce the spread of the disease.
If we are not able to achieve this rate through voluntary measures, we will seriously consider implementing a mandate for faculty, administrative staff, and union staff. The College will not make this decision lightly; ultimately, we will base it on data, which is why we are asking you to upload your vaccination cards into Workday by Monday, August 2. If you haven’t already done so, please take a moment to upload your vaccination card today.
While widespread vaccination is absolutely necessary to ensure our collective health and safety, as we have seen from recent reports of breakthrough COVID-19 infections, it is not sufficient. Masking and testing will be a critical part of our approach this fall, and we will have strong protocols in place for both.
Until we can be sure an exceedingly high percentage of our community is vaccinated, masks will be required in all academic and administrative buildings for faculty, administrative and union staff, and students. Masks are not required in private offices or outdoors, except for gatherings of more than 50 people. Students will not be required to wear masks in residence or dining halls, but staff will continue to be required to wear masks in these spaces. We hope that when we achieve a vaccination rate of more than 90 percent, we will be able to relax some masking requirements in classrooms and other workspaces and allow instructors who would prefer to teach without a mask to do so.
Students, faculty, and staff are asked to fill out the daily health check only if they are experiencing symptoms. This will enable a nurse from our occupational health and safety consultant to contact faculty and staff and for Health Services to check in with students. Please do not come to campus if you are experiencing symptoms.
All faculty, staff, and students on campus will be tested once weekly as part of a pooled PCR testing program with the Broad Institute. With pooled testing, all individuals are tested using a nasal swab, and the samples are analyzed in groups of 10.
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If a pool tests positive, each person in the pool will be retested the next day with both Binax (rapid antigen) and individual PCR tests.
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People will be asked to isolate only if they test positive in a follow-up test or begin to experience symptoms.
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Individuals who test positive will be contacted by one of our contact tracers to identify close contacts. Close contacts who are vaccinated will not need to quarantine, unless they are symptomatic. Unvaccinated close contacts will need to quarantine.
The College continues to manage our buildings to ensure that the indoor air quality meets current CDC standards and best practices relative to protecting the community from COVID-19. We are implementing a range of ventilation measures that vary depending on how spaces are used and outfitted.
An outside engineering firm has checked buildings with air handling systems to ensure that the systems are operating in accordance with current CDC guidance and manufacturer standards, including four air changes per hour with 100 percent outside air (as conditions allow). Examples include Green Hall, the Science Center, some classrooms in Founders, and Clapp Library.
For buildings on campus that do not have air handling systems, the CDC recommends opening windows, as the weather allows, to increase airflow. Facilities has checked rooms and windows on campus to ensure occupants can safely open a window for air circulation.
The Facilities team will be installing portable HEPA units in shared academic/administrative spaces where they are needed to address ventilation and airflow. These spaces are in buildings that have no air handling systems and limited or no operable windows, and are occupied by more than one person. Examples include Cheever House, some rooms in Founders, and Nehoiden House. These units will be delivered throughout the month of August.
HEPA filters will not be installed in common areas in academic buildings (kitchens, copy areas, etc.) or restrooms as these areas will not be occupied for long periods of time. Exhaust fans will be checked and verified in each building.
If the air filtration system is not working in your space, your window does not open, or you have a problem with the portable HEPA unit, please submit a service request. For general questions and information, please contact Suzanne Howard, director of environmental health and safety.
We are looking forward to having everyone on campus. Several offices are bringing employees back in person starting in early August. In addition, small numbers of registered visitors will be permitted on campus starting in August, including prospective students and their families.
We will be sharing additional information on testing and other health and safety measures in the weeks ahead. As always, please check Keeping Wellesley Healthy for the latest information.
