Dear graduate assistants,
We are reaching out on the eve of the first day of fall classes with some important information for those of you TA-ing or teaching your own classes or labs this semester. Please read the following message carefully and reach out to graduate.dean@unlv.edu if you have any questions.
Please know that we recognize that it may be a challenging semester. Rest assured that we'll be here to support you and share information and updates whenever they are available. Thanks for all you do -- we're wishing you a safe, healthy, productive, and enjoyable semester ahead!
Warm regards,
Brianne Heinle Executive Director of Graduate Financial Services & Business Operations
Kate Korgan Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate College
|
Dear UNLV Faculty and Instructors,
We hope this message finds you and your family and friends safe and healthy.
As we start the fall 2021 semester, more students will be on campus than at any time during the past 18 months. While the Delta variant of COVID-19 poses new challenges for us to protect our campus, the COVID-19 vaccine is the tool that will help us overcome this challenge. The Nevada State Board of Health’s requirement that all students be vaccinated by Nov. 1, 2021, coupled with Governor Steve Sisolak’s requirement that all state employees be fully vaccinated or provide proof of weekly negative test results effective Aug. 30, 2021, will provide our campus the best possible protection from COVID-19.
Until UNLV students, faculty, and staff reach high levels of vaccination, we are likely to have members of our campus community test positive for COVID-19, or be exposed to those who have. We want to remind faculty and instructors of how we investigate and respond to these cases, and of their role in the process.
The process begins with either 1) a self-report of a positive COVID-19 test, 2) a report by another person, such as an instructor reporting a student, or 3) a referral from the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD). Students should be encouraged to self-report, as this action provides the most information with which to launch an investigation. However, if the student has not yet self-reported, you should report to ensure that cases are not missed.
The COVID-19 case surveillance coordinator and UNLV contact tracers will investigate each case to identify individuals who need to be quarantined to interrupt the chain of infection and determine what steps need to be taken. These steps may include isolation or quarantine, communication to our campus community, and environmental cleaning.
If a student notifies you that they have been placed in quarantine by SNHD, make short-term academic arrangements for that student to participate remotely (if the student requests such arrangements). The purpose of quarantine is to keep exposed students away from others to prevent spreading COVID-19. Students under quarantine may only come to campus to seek medical care.
A student who tests positive for COVID-19 will be placed in an SNHD-mandated isolation. As with a student in quarantine, you may need to make short-term academic arrangements for the student. If the student was in your classroom during his/her infectious period (starting 48 hours before symptoms), the UNLV contact tracers will determine if anyone had close contact with the student and needs to be quarantined. Close contact is defined as spending more than a total of 15 minutes in a 24-hour period within 6 feet of an infectious person.
SNHD requires that unvaccinated close contacts quarantine at home for 10 calendar days. This period can be shortened to 7 days if the person has no symptoms and tests negative on Day 5 or later. Fully vaccinated individuals do not need to quarantine after close contact, although they should get tested 3-5 days after their exposure. Until the quarantine period has ended students will not be allowed to return to class or campus for any reason other than a medical visit.
The UNLV investigators may need your assistance to identify students who were in close contact with the infectious student or the faculty or instructor. If we determine that many students have been exposed in a classroom, but we cannot easily identify them, you may be required to temporarily hold your course online for up to 10 calendar days.
Until vaccination rates increase among students, there are some steps you can take to prepare ahead and help with the investigation process. For instance, encourage students to sit in the same seat every class to help with contact tracing and minimize disruptions to your semester. As the instructor, you should have contingency plans for the fall semester, in case you become infected with COVID-19 or are required to quarantine.
During the contact tracing and response process, we may be limited in the information that we can share with faculty and instructors. This may be frustrating, as we may not be able to share some information that you request. For example, we will need to share dates of course attendance with you, but we cannot share information about a student’s current health status. This practice reflects the need to balance our obligation to comply with federal regulations regarding the privacy of students’ medical information with our need to maintain the safety of our classrooms.
Finally, some of you may want to share information with your students about an exposure, but please do not send any notifications to your students or co-workers regarding potential exposure to COVID-19 without first consulting with UNLV’s Clery Act Coordinator, Ashley Angell (702-895-3833, ashleigh.angell@unlv.edu). Such a notice may share protected personal information and may be a violation of federal law, which will result in heavy fines. We will work with you to provide communication to your students that is honest, accurate, and useful, while ensuring that we meet all our legal requirements.
The health and wellbeing of UNLV’s community continues to be our highest priority. Following the aforementioned guidelines will reaffirm our commitment to protect ourselves and each other. Thank you for your continued efforts to advance UNLV’s educational mission during these unusual times.
Chris L. Heavey, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President and Provost
Professor of Psychology
Javier A. Rodríguez, Ph.D.
Vice Provost for Academic Programs
Professor of Biology
Brian Labus, PhD, MPH, REHS
Assistant Professor
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
School of Public Health
|
UNLV is an EEO/AA/Title VI/Title IX/Section 504 institution. All qualified applicants to the Graduate College, and admitted students, will receive equal consideration without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, or covered US veteran status. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|