April 9, 2020
Dear students, faculty, and staff,
I write to you with our weekly update from the COVID-19 Risk Assessment Group (CRAG). We have highlighted essential points in yellow.
New Cases at Reed
Since our last update, we have identified no new confirmed COVID-19 cases at Reed. We continue to report all associated COVID-19 cases online, found in the "Total Cases" section of the dashboard.
COVID-19 Vaccine
While Reed has been approved as a vaccine provider, at this time, we do not know when the state will allocate vaccines to Reed for distribution despite our weekly requests.
Important: Reed community members should not wait for a Reed-sponsored vaccine clinic due to the uncertainty of when Reed will receive the vaccine.
Eligible community members should visit the Oregon COVID-19 Vaccination webpage and sign up with the Get Vaccinated Oregon portal. Registered individuals will be notified when they have been selected to receive a vaccine provided by their state or local health department, although this may not be immediate. Third-party sites such as VaccineFinder and VaccineSpotter, traditional and social media outlets, or your primary health care provider may also be useful resources as eligible individuals search for appointments. Vaccines are free and do not require insurance.
Read more about the vaccine and eligibility on the Reed Vaccine FAQ.
Multnomah County moves to High Risk
Effective today, April 9, Multnomah County will move back to the High Risk category, based on the increasing COVID-19 activity over the last two weeks. This change impacts Reed gathering guidelines, summarized here. For more information about the restrictions associated with this risk category change, please review the Oregon Sector Risk Level Guidance.
Surveillance testing next week
Next week, surveillance testing will take place from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM in the student union on Monday, April 12 and Thursday, April 15.
Testing sign ups will not be carried over week to week; instead, a new sign up sheet will be shared via email no later than the Friday before the week in question. Individuals are only required to sign up and complete a test during the weeks in which they will be accessing campus; if you will not be accessing campus and do not need a COVID test, simply disregard this email.
In order to best protect the Reed community, it is imperative that all community members participate in surveillance testing as appropriate, regardless of vaccination status. For more information about the Reed COVID-19 surveillance testing program, please visit our website here.
Weekly Surveillance Testing Participation
This week, we conducted 1778 COVID-19 surveillance tests on campus.
Please help us keep Reed a safe place to live, work, and study by participating in surveillance testing, the weekly risk assessment survey, and, for those both local and remote, all other essential response measures on and off campus.
If you have questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to the COVID-19 Risk Assessment Group at coronavirusquestions@reed.edu.
Sincerely,
Madison Riethman, MPH, CPH
COVID-19 Response Coordinator and Health Project Manager
Health & Counseling Services
Reporting on behalf of the COVID-19 Risk Assessment Group
PS: As a reminder, you can track all our COVID-19 communications to members of the Reed Community here.