Just before this fall semester began at Oswego State, students living on campus or commuting to in-person instruction were required to take a COVID-19 test. Faculty working on campus and instructing in-person classes, however, were not.
“Employees were not required to be tested before classes begin as a baseline measure, but all faculty and staff are required to complete the daily health screening and advised to be tested if they develop any symptoms,” said Wayne Westervelt, Chief Communications Officer at Oswego State.
According to Westervelt, the campus-wide face-covering policy, coupled with the Oswego Forward Pledge, has been implemented in efforts of keeping faculty, staff and students safe.
“The testing protocols approved by the NYS Department of Health for SUNY Upstate Medical University’s pooled saliva testing, that we administered to students, did not allow for individual test results for employees of the college,” Westervelt said. “Given this information, we encouraged faculty and staff to be tested independently and assembled a list of resources for how and where employees could be tested.”
According to the Human Resources Office at Oswego State, employees have been getting tested independently when symptomatic and have been communicating those results back to Oswego State.
Other systems have been put in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19 on campus.
“Our Facilities Services staff have been working throughout the summer and this fall on classroom, office and building preparations – reducing density of office spaces and classrooms to ensure that employees and students will have six feet of distance between them; sanitizing surfaces; preparing our HVAC systems and increasing air circulation/filtration; and installing plexiglass in reception and high-traffic areas to create protective barriers,” Westervelt said.
Beyond barriers and cleaning, Oswego State has looked to a new marketing campaign that concides with the Oswego Forward Plan.
“[Facilities Services staff] have also been coordinating efforts with our Communications and Marketing team to design and place appropriate signage throughout campus, promoting the importance of social distancing while traversing about campus and reminding all of the face coverings requirement.”
As previously stated, employees are required to complete the daily health screening before beginning in-person instruction, Westervelt said.
“For employees, they also have a daily health screening that needs to be completed. Employees are to see their PCP or other provider if they are feeling ill and should not come to campus if they are ill,” said Angie Brown, Director of Student Health Services at Oswego State.
Students are also required to complete daily health screenings. Each day, before a student leaves their dorm or comes to campus, they must complete a health screening. Included in the health screening is the list of COVID-19 symptoms. If a student reports having experienced any of the following symptoms, they are prompted to contact the Mary Walker Health Services.
According to Westervelt, employees were required to watch a 12-minute training video called “New York State COVID-19 Response: Return to Work.”
“The purpose of this training was to prepare all of us to best support health and safety in the workplace, while remaining committed to student success and academic and creative excellence,” Westervelt said.
According to Westervelt, faculty and staff who traveled internationally or out-of-state and are returning from one of the designated restricted states were required to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in New York and before returning to campus.
Westervelt also mentioned that any employee that tests positive for COVID-19 and shares their results with the Office of Human Resources can be found on the oswego.edu COVID-19 dashboard under the “Additional Reporting” section.
Oswegonian file photo from 2019
