Fall 2021 COVID Update
Fall 2021 COVID Update
August 4, 2021
WCC continues to advocate for a healthy campus work and student environment (with updates from President Lassner (https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2021/07/23/update-on-uh-covid-19-plans-for-fall-2021/). Here are updates for our campus.
Daily operations
All offices on campus are open during normal business hours with in-person, campus-based support, as required in the recent email. With the continued availability of telework, staffing for in-person operations will support effective service with consideration for reducing density in shared spaces.
Lumisight
All persons who are physically present at WCC are required to complete the LumiSight questionnaire. LumiSight is currently being updated to include a module for vaccination upload and verification via state database (see Lumisight: Health section, Vaccination History tab), as well as testing verification for unvaccinated students. More information on this will be provided by the UH System as Lumisight and related procedures are updated.
Safety measures
- Disposable face masks are available for forgetful students (and others) and face shields are available from several offices campus-wide
- Air purifiers will be placed in all classrooms with in-person instructional activities, as well as shared office spaces. Please inform your administrative lead of any unmet needs for air purifiers
- Touchless paper towel dispensers have been installed in bathrooms throughout the campus
- Touchless water bottle refill stations are currently being installed
- Hand sanitizer stations are located throughout the campus
- Hand sanitizer and regular cleaning supplies are available in shared office spaces as well as public-facing offices
- Hand sanitizers and regular cleaning supplies are available in all classrooms with in-person instructional activities. Our summer pilot courses have taught us that WCC students appreciate being able to clean their own seating/work areas before class begins
- We continue to conduct sanitation and deep cleaning activities
Non-compliance with health and safety measures
Students who refuse to comply with health and safety policies, such as wearing masks in classrooms or office spaces, will be subject to conduct code proceedings. In an event of non-compliance, security may be called to remove the student from the classroom or office space.
Visitors who refuse to observe campus and UH health and safety policies may be removed by security.
Employees who refuse to comply will be subject to progressive disciplinary action. https://www.hawaii.edu/ohr/covid-19-info/safety-on-campus/face-coverings-on-campus/
Classroom changes
To accommodate the widest possible range of scenarios due to continued uncertainties around the global and local health situation, WCC has designed one of the most balanced fall schedules in the UH System, with approximately one-third of courses to include in-person instruction. This includes a very small number of courses in F2F modality, with most in hybrid format.
The summer was spent making the following proactive preparations:
- All classrooms have been re-measured, re-surveyed, and re-assessed for a range of social distancing possibilities. The current UH policy calls for 3-foot physical distancing between students, a 6-foot distance between the instructor and first row of students, and indoor mask usage (https://www.hawaii.edu/covid19-guidelines/facilities-and-spaces/)
- Plexiglass classroom instructor stations are available for installation by request; more will be purchased as needed
Considerations of quality and safety will continue to guide our work. Proactive preparation and broad input has served us well throughout the pandemic and continues to do so.
We look forward to the fall semester with these guidelines in place, knowing that there may be changes in the future.
