January 25, 2021

VPSL COVID-19 Weekly Column: Jan. 25, 2021

Vice President of Student Life and Dean of Students Robin Holmes-Sullivan looks back at last week on Palatine Hill.

Happy Monday, students!

As I wrote in my message last week, thank you for taking seriously the responsibility of making sure our community is safe: limiting any high-risk activity; ensuring that your choices limited your risk of contracting and then transmitting the virus; and remembering your health and wellness practices.

We’ve completed our re-entry testing clinics and resumed our full battery of effluent testing, the results of which are below and on the college’s website. The news is generally good. Thanks to the diligent efforts of students, staff, and faculty, our positivity rates remain very low. At the same time, we cannot afford to let up in our vigilance. Wear your PPE, track your symptoms, take care of your own health and think of the health of others. And together, we can get the most out of our spring semester together. Here’s the recap:

  • COVID-19 spring semester re-entry testing: The College learned yesterday that two CAS students tested positive for COVID-19 as part of the entrance-testing clinic held on campus on Friday, January 22. One of these students resides off-campus. This student was last on-campus for the testing clinic on Friday. This student has been supported into isolation, and contact tracing is underway. The second student resides on-campus. This student has been supported into isolation, and contact tracing has been completed. No close contacts were identified for this student.

    Those students who have received their negative results back are exempted from enhanced social distancing requirements. The small percentage of CAS students who were neither tested last week nor cleared by Wellness staff will not be allowed to attend in-person instruction until they have been cleared by Wellness staff. As a refresher, here are our expectations for students living on campus.

  • COVID-19 cases: We have now received all of the results from entry testing completed over the last two weeks. This semester Lewis & Clark has administered 2,267 COVID-19 tests to employees and students from all three campuses. Positive cases represent 0.26% of the total tests administered.

  • Effluent testing results: Effluent testing results returned on January 22 from wastewater samples pulled showed positive results in the wastewater leaving Roberts/East, Platt/Howard, and Holmes/Hartzfeld* Halls. Follow-up testing results are expected tomorrow. (*Please note that Hartzfeld is our isolation and quarantine facility.)

Please take care of yourselves. Focus on your health, your studies, and your relationships. I believe in you and I believe in the power of what we can accomplish together. I am so glad you are here. Stay well and stay safe. And as always, WeB4Me@LC.

Sincerely,

Robin H. Holmes-Sullivan
Vice President of Student Life and Dean of Students