To: The Wellesley College Community
From: President Paula A. Johnson
Re: Health and Safety Update
Date: October 26, 2020
As we begin term 2 and head into the colder months of the year, we need to strengthen our health and safety protocols for several important reasons.
First, public health data indicate we are entering a new wave of the virus. Here in Massachusetts, cases are rising sharply and exceeded 1,000 new cases per day both this past Saturday and Sunday, numbers not seen in the state since May. Transmission rates have increased far above the level they were at when we started the first term.
Second, the CDC has updated guidance for contact tracing and now defines close contacts as those who were within six feet of a person who tested positive for a cumulative total of 15 minutes within a 24-hour period. Previously this definition applied only to those who were within six feet for 15 consecutive minutes.
Finally, yesterday we reported our third positive case this fall. Following that positive test, there is one student in isolation and four others in quarantine. After an extremely thorough contact tracing process using the CDC’s new guidance, more than 50 additional community members, mostly students, have been identified as close contacts of the students in quarantine. These community members are considered secondary contacts.
Out of an abundance of caution, we are not allowing any of the students who are secondary contacts and who may be registered for in-person classes to attend class in-person, visit the library, or eat in the dining halls this week. This will give them time to be tested three times over the next seven days and will allow for the quarantined students to receive additional testing. The employees who are secondary contacts have been asked to work remotely. These measures are precautionary only. At this time, these community members have not had direct contact with anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19. The College is taking an extra level of care to limit spread and ensure the health and safety of the community.
This situation makes clear that even on a campus like ours, which is doing extensive testing and implementing strong public health protocols, one positive case and a relatively small number of exposures can have a potentially large impact when those protocols are not being followed consistently. We are grateful to the students involved for their forthcoming and candid responses to our contact tracers. The information they shared allowed us to identify several important areas of our health and safety protocols that need to be changed, clarified, and more actively enforced.
Based on what we have learned from the contact tracing process as well as the increasing cases in the Commonwealth and the recent change in CDC guidelines, the College has made the decision to delay the start of term 2 varsity athletics practices until next Monday, November 2. The KSC will remain open through the reservation system for any student who wants to engage in individual fitness activities. As a reminder, club sports have been suspended for the fall terms and group sports must not be organized informally.
We expect to announce further changes in the week ahead related to off-campus travel and the visitor policy.
We cannot afford to have a false sense of security when it comes to this virus. The fact that we have had only three positive cases to date this fall does not mean we will not see many more if we are not vigilant. Wellesley is doing something remarkable this year. Having students living on campus and taking in-person classes is an extraordinary undertaking during a pandemic. The only way we will be able to continue is if all members of our community accept a shared responsibility to follow the rules—even when it means not seeing or interacting with friends or loved ones who live off campus in the ways we are used to. I know life on campus doesn’t feel normal right now—but these are not normal times. Right now, we all need to act and make decisions as if the health of our community and our ability to complete the term on campus depend on it—because they do.
