Dear Members of the Campus Community,

As we wrap up the second week of the spring semester—and our first with in-person classes in full swing for students who have completed their quarantine period—I write to commend you all for your good work in navigating our new environment. We are seeing strong adherence to our Community Pledge, mask wearing, daily health screening and testing protocol, all of which are essential to the continued health and wellbeing of all members of our campus community.

I know you are continuing to receive a lot of information from a lot of sources, and I will reach out periodically throughout the semester with recaps for your convenience. I know it can be challenging to keep up with email, so do feel free to post these messages on bulletin boards or otherwise share them in your offices or residence halls. We are also using our social media channels to communicate key information. All campus messages related to the pandemic will also continue to be posted at pugetsound.edu/coronavirus.

New dashboard
We are updating our COVID-19 dashboard for spring semester to align with our new testing protocol. The dashboard reports overall test results and the number of community members in quarantine or isolation. It is updated every Friday evening at pugetsound.edu/covid-19-dashboard. We are grateful to our colleagues in Counseling, Health and Wellness Services (CHWS) for everything they are doing to manage our new testing program, which is so critical to mitigating the spread of the virus.

Athletic facilities are open
Athletic facilities opened on Tuesday for use on a reservation basis by campus community members only. More information is available at loggerathletics.com/information/AAC_REOPENING_2021.pdf.

New variants
We are closely monitoring information about new variants of the virus that are reported to be more contagious and to become more prevalent by March. Our best defense is to continue to follow public health and safety guidelines and university protocols that have proven to be most effective: wear a mask, maintain social distance, frequently wash your hands, stay current on your required testing, complete your daily self-screening, and stay in your room or home when ill and consult with CHWS or your medical provider. 

Being good neighbors
Several members of the campus community have met with our campus neighbors to apprise them of our pandemic-related guidelines and ask for their support and cooperation in limiting visits to campus and wearing masks while they are here. Security Services staff are reminding anyone who is not wearing a mask that they must be worn even while outside on campus. 

One-stop shop for information
Although I have included several web page addresses in this message, note that all of these pages are accessible from pugetsound.edu/spring2021. If you are unsure of where to look to find what you need, please start there!

We are all in this together. I am inspired every day by your exceptional Logger community spirit, and wish you all a safe and healthy weekend.

Sincerely,

Isiaah
Isiaah Crawford, Ph.D. | President