February 5, 2020

Dear students, faculty, and staff,

I write to you with our weekly update from the COVID-19 Risk Assessment Group. We have highlighted essential points in yellow.

New cases at Reed

In the past week, we have identified one new confirmed COVID-19 case at Reed. This case was placed in isolation and a small number of potentially exposed individuals were contacted and quarantined promptly after the college's notification of the positive test results. We continue to report all associated COVID-19 cases online, found in the "Total Cases" section of the dashboard.

Sports Center Operations

The Oregon Health Authority has released new guidelines for indoor fitness and recreation centers. As such, we are pleased to announce the reopening of the Sports Center on February 15, 2021, in a reservation-only capacity. Given the very low maximum occupancy (6 people per space) allowed by the state, the center will be open only to students at this time. Beginning February 12, you may place a reservation at the link provided on the AFOP website. Please read the information about requirements for use of the Sports Center prior to making a reservation.

Weekly Surveillance Testing Participation

This week, we conducted 2000 COVID-19 surveillance tests on campus. Students who live on campus had a participation rate of 95% while students who live off campus but access campus regularly had a participation rate of 77%. In order to best protect the Reed community, it is imperative that all community members participate in surveillance testing each week, according to the schedule outlined here.

Below, we've summarized participation among on campus students by residence hall. As a reminder, once a residence hall achieves 90% or higher participation, their common areas will be reopened the following Monday. Congrats to this week's new additions to this group (highlighted below), and a special shoutout to those halls who achieved 100% participation this week! Residents of these halls should hear from their Area Coordinator this week with instructions on how to claim a treat.

For more information about the Reed COVID-19 surveillance testing program, please visit our website here.

*Houses will have common areas reopened when they individually reach 90% participation or when their group achieves 90% participation.

Managing COVID-19 Testing Appointments

Our new scheduling software, SignUpGenius, allows users to easily view and manage their sign up times as needed. Participants can visit www.signupgenius.com, log in to their account, and view or edit their appointments in the "Items I Signed Up For" section.

Once you've made your weekly appointments the first time, those same time slots carry over week to week. If you need to change your times in a given week, make sure to cancel your existing appointments before scheduling new ones so that you don't end up with more appointments than you need. Additionally, if you signed up for an appointment one week and no longer need this appointment for future weeks, be sure to cancel your appointment slot, in order to make it available for others.

Starting the week of February 8, additional testing appointments will be available between 12-3 PM Monday through Friday. These appointments are now open for reservation on the testing sign up page.

Be Kind and Remind

This semester, the COVID-19 Risk Assessment Group continues to monitor compliance with disease prevention measures on campus, including masking, social distancing, visitor restrictions, and other requirements in place to limit the risk of COVID-19 on campus. Please continue to support us in this effort by speaking up and encouraging others to follow these and other important steps.

When a kind reminder is not enough, please feel free to share concerns in the Weekly Risk Assessment Survey, the Public Health Behaviors Non-Compliance Reporting Form, or via email to coronavirusquestions@reed.edu.

COVID-19 Vaccine

The COVID-19 Risk Assessment Group continues to closely monitor the progress of vaccine distribution and administration across the state. For more information, visit the Reed COVID Prevention and Response website.

The Oregon Health Authority has released a dashboard providing up to date information on the number and distribution of individuals vaccinated across the state. This dashboard is updated daily.

State and National Trends

Multnomah County, where Reed College resides, remains in the "Extreme Risk" category assigned by Governor Brown, based on local COVID-19 activity data. You can review the risk categories and associated limitations on the State of Oregon's COVID-19 webpage here.

Since record-setting COVID-19 activity in November and December, COVID case and positivity rates have slowly declined over the last several weeks in Multnomah county and in Oregon. Statewide and locally, the number of cases not traced to a known source has remained consistently at or below 50%, signaling ongoing transmission in the general community.

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.