Faculty and Staff Health and Safety Update

To: Wellesley College Faculty and Staff
From: Karen Petrulakis, General Counsel
Re: Health and Safety Update
Date: February 1, 2021

With the start of classes just two weeks away, I wanted to share health and safety guidance to help you prepare for a safe and successful spring. Much of this guidance will be familiar to those who were working on campus in the fall as most of the same protocols will apply. We continue to meet with the state around plans for the vaccination roll-out and will share information as soon as it is available.

Start of the second semester and students’ return to campus
We will be welcoming just over 1,100 students to campus for the spring semester. The first students will begin arriving February 3, with the majority arriving the week of February 8. Based on the current state of the pandemic in Massachusetts and elsewhere, we have instituted additional safety measures for the launch of the second semester. Students in the U.S. are completing a COVID-19 test provided by the College prior to traveling to campus, and they will quarantine on campus or at the Verve Hotel for five days until they receive two negative test results. International students are required by the CDC to have a negative test before coming to the U.S. and will also quarantine when they arrive on campus. As we did in the fall, we will respond quickly to a positive test result and move a student to isolation, and our excellent contact tracing team will determine if there are “close contacts” who also need to be quarantined.

Securing the bubble
Also as in the fall, we will be limiting the number of people on campus in order to reduce potential exposures between and among students, faculty, and staff. We ask that only those faculty who are teaching in person or who have been approved by the Provost come to campus. Those staff who are able to work remotely are encouraged to do so. Staff must have the approval of their supervisor and Human Resources to work on campus. Starting February 8, faculty and staff who are not approved to work on campus are welcome in outdoor campus spaces but should not access campus buildings except with approval from the Provost or their managers. The entire campus will continue to be closed to the public and to visitors and guests.

Spring 2021 Documentation Toolbox
The new Spring 2021 Toolbox is now live on the top menu on the MyWellesley portal. Like the Fall 2020 Toolbox, it will be important for faculty and staff to visit it regularly—especially those designated to come to campus. The toolbox is where you will complete the steps needed for the College’s asymptomatic testing program, access important COVID-19 forms, complete the new spring 2021 COVID-19 health and safety training, report exposures and positive tests, and find the Daily Health Check app.

• COVID-19 acknowledgement form. New faculty and staff—both those who will be working on campus this spring and those who will be working remotely—should complete the COVID-19 acknowledgment form, which can be accessed on the new Spring 2021 Documentation Dashboard. Faculty and staff who signed the form in the fall do not need to do so again.
• COVID-19 health and safety training. All faculty and staff who plan to teach or work on campus this spring are required to complete a training session prior to returning to campus. This includes faculty and staff who completed the training in the fall, as the training module has been updated significantly. We are also asking faculty and staff working remotely this spring to complete the training so that you will be prepared in the event you need to come to campus, and because the information is broadly relevant. All students will receive similar training through the Office of Student Wellness. The training will be available starting February 3 in the Spring 2021 Toolbox, and employees can complete it when it is most convenient. Faculty and staff who are in the testing group must complete this training before February 15, 2021, in order to be able to test on campus after that date. Suzanne Howard, director of environmental health and safety, will be holding open Q&A sessions for employees every Friday in February from 10:30–11:30 a.m.
• Daily health check. All faculty and staff are required to complete this form before coming to campus, and on any day you experience symptoms regardless of whether you plan to come to campus that day. Make sure to check your response for accuracy before submitting. A health care professional from the Occupational and Environmental Health Network (OEHN) will personally contact faculty and staff who report symptoms.

Regular testing for designated faculty and staff
We will continue to provide asymptomatic testing through the Broad Institute to faculty and staff who have regular and significant interaction with students. This group includes faculty who are teaching in person or working with students in the lab; Residential Life staff; Health Services and counseling staff; testing staff; police; and dining, custodial, and trades staff. The asymptomatic testing program will begin this week for a small group (dining and Residential Life staff) and will open to all faculty and staff in the testing pool the week of February 8. It is important that those in the testing pool test weekly throughout the term. Dining staff will be tested twice a week this spring.

(If you are not in the testing pool and feel that you should be, please send your request to Campus Key and make sure to notify your department head. Department heads, please notify Human Resources by February 5 if you are requesting that a staff member be added to the testing program.)

• Information for faculty and staff who are new to our asymptomatic testing program:
  • Complete the COVID-19 health and safety training noted above.
  • If you are new to the testing protocol, complete the Consent Form for Testing located in your Spring 2021 Toolbox. You must sign this form in order to participate in the Broad Institute testing program. The Spring 2021 Toolbox also has a box called “Broad Data Check.” If the box is green, you can proceed to testing. If it is red, click on it to see what required data for testing is missing and make sure to enter that information into Workday at least two hours before your first test. Please pay particular attention to the accuracy of your primary telephone number in Workday, as this is essential for reaching you in the event of an exposure or positive test.
  • Scheduling tests and accessing test results. Your tests will be scheduled through an app, called Campus Key Wellesley, which is available through the App Store for iPhones and through the Play Store for Android phones. Scheduling will be completed every Saturday evening, and you will receive an email from Campus Key with the schedules for the upcoming week. Schedules will also be available through the Campus Key app. Test results will generally be available by 9 p.m. the day after your test (24 hours after the test sample arrives at the lab). Negative results will be communicated through an email from CareEvolve, a system that the Broad uses for information exchange with those who are being tested. Instructions for creating your CareEvolve account and downloading the Campus Key app are posted in the Spring 2021 Toolbox. A health care professional from the Occupational and Environmental Health Network (OEHN) will personally contact faculty and staff who test positive.
  • Missed tests. It is very important that you take your test at the day/time scheduled through the Campus Key app. The College will follow up regarding any missed tests. If for any reason you are unable to test at the scheduled time, you should email Campus Key.

Your test will be scheduled at one of two testing sites on campus: the Wall Room on the upper level of the College Club, or the lower level of the Davis Parking Garage near the Lulu Wang Campus Center. Individuals who are experienced with testing due to testing in the fall will be sent to an “express line” and directed to testing booths located in the Pub in the Lulu. We ask for your patience during the first few weeks of testing when we will be experiencing an increased volume due to the more frequent testing of students. After February 22, the volume will normalize and there will be greater flexibility with testing times and availability.
From February 8 to February 19, the testing schedule will be:

Beginning February 21, the testing schedule will be:

If you have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 90 days, we ask that you notify the College through the button provided in the Spring 2021 Toolbox so that we can determine the best testing protocol for you.

Please keep in mind that the process described in this email is for asymptomatic testing only. Faculty and staff approved to work on campus who are experiencing symptoms should notify the College by filling out the Daily Health Check app and coordinate directly with their own health care providers for symptomatic testing. On-campus employees who have become aware of an exposure to COVID-19 should notify the College through the button provided in the toolbox.

If you need assistance accessing your Spring 2021 Toolbox, please email the Help Desk or call 781.283.3333 for phone support Monday through Friday, 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Thank you for your patience, understanding, and participation as we get our health and safety protocols back up and running for the spring. Keeping our community as safe as we can requires all of us working together to follow public health and College guidance, including the basics of wearing masks, maintaining six feet of distance, and washing and sanitizing our hands frequently. Please consult the Keeping Wellesley Healthy website regularly for updates and additional information.