September 18, 2020

Dear students, faculty, and staff,

I write to you with our weekly update on the Indicators for Risk Assessment from the COVID-19 Risk Assessment Group.

The big news this week is that we welcomed epidemiologist Madison Riethman to campus as our new COVID-19 response coordinator and health project manager. In this new role, Madison will collaborate with the COVID Risk Assessment Group in support of our ongoing prevention and response plan. Going forward, Madison will be taking over this reporting to you on a weekly basis.

Public Health:

State-level data, published by the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), indicate no significant changes in the number of new COVID-19 cases identified nor the percent of COVID-19 tests resulting positive over the last several weeks, although regional data published and Multnomah County suggest a slight downward trend in these metrics. The percent of cases that have not been traced to a known source has also remained consistently at or slightly above the state's target of 30%, indicating ongoing general community spread.

Campus Health:

As of noon today, we have identified 1 new positive COVID-19 case since our last weekly summary. The college continues to track the number of COVID-19 cases on this web page. The COVID response team has completed a full case and contact investigation in response to this new positive, which identified no on-campus exposures.

This week's COVID-19 surveillance testing was impacted by the curtailing of campus operations, including moving classes online, due to air quality. Twenty-three diagnostic tests were conducted since the last weekly summary; at this time, none of these tests have been positive. Surveillance testing was cancelled on Monday and Tuesday and resumed yesterday. We completed 291 COVID-19 tests yesterday, with an additional 433 tests scheduled for today. Attendance at testing yesterday and today was low due to air quality concerns.

Because some people missed their COVID-19 surveillance test this week due to curtailed campus operations and because a number of Reed community members left their home residences due to the air quality and the wildfires, we are expanding our testing capacity over the next two weeks. We are also asking everyone accessing campus who left their residence this week due to the air quality and wildfires to quarantine until they have confirmation of a negative COVID-19 test. ACTIONS:

• Students who live off campus and are taking classes in person this fall should follow the instructions sent in this email.
• Students and staff who live on campus should follow the instructions sent in this email.
• Faculty teaching in person should follow the instructions sent to them in this email.
• Select staff accessing campus should follow the instructions they will receive in this email.

Community Compliance with Preventative Practices:

Overall, community compliance with preventative practices continues to be strong, with a few notable exceptions.

Our weekly survey continues to be helpful in determining where our strengths and weaknesses are, so we appreciate the 402 of you who filled out the survey this week.

Face coverings: Generally speaking, compliance is strong in this area; however our goal is 100% compliance. Don't forget, if you see someone not wearing a face covering properly, you have the power to be kind and remind.

• 99.2% report observing people in classrooms wearing face coverings properly last week all or most of the time.
• 93.9% report observing people in shared spaces in residence halls wearing face coverings properly last week all or most of the time.
• 94.3% report observing people in other shared spaces on campus wearing face coverings properly all or most of the time.

Physical distancing: The percentages below confirm that we must improve adherence to physical distancing. Based on the open-ended comments, two specific areas of concern are 1) when sitting at a table outside or inside Commons 2) in shared spaces of residence halls. ACTION: Reread this page on physical-distancing expectations out loud. In the meantime, the college is putting up more signage to remind people of the expectations.

• 96.2% report observing people in classrooms following physical-distancing guidelines last week all or most of the time.
• 81.2% report observing people in shared spaces in residence halls following physical-distancing guidelines last week all or most of the time.
• 76.9% report observing people in other shared spaces on campus following physical-distancing guidelines last week all or most of the time.

Visitors: We appreciate the care and attention many our community members are taking in helping to identify and report non-compliance in this area. This week's survey reported 24.4% of the respondents personally witnessing an unapproved visitor(s) on campus. Based on open-ended responses, we are alarmed to learn that some students are witnessing other students bringing visitors into the residence halls. We are addressing these reports individually, but we take this opportunity to remind students who live on campus that it is essential that no visitors access dorms, which includes other students not living in your residence hall. ACTIONS: On-campus students: don't let visitors into residence halls. Community members on campus: visibly wear your Reed ID or name badge.

Daily Health Check: This week, 596 community members on average completed the Daily Health Check, and 98% were issued a green GO message every day. Those who received a STOP message were quickly in contact with HR or the HCC. As a reminder, it is OK to ask anyone on campus to show you their GO message. The number of community members who completed the Daily Health Check this week is expectedly lower due to curtailed campus operations and classes moving online due to air quality.

Campus Capacity:

Currently, 98% of rooms in the designed isolation dorm are available.

During the period of unhealthy air quality, our N95/KN95 stock was provided to campus community members who had a heightened risk due to outdoor work or underlying health concerns. We are currently restocking and should be back to pre-wildfire levels shortly.

In this week's survey, 94.1% of respondents said they had adequate access to cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) on campus. Considering the size of our campus, this response is strong. If you have a specific request related to cleaning supplies or PPE, it is helpful to know PRECISELY what and how much you are requesting (versus "we need more hand sanitizer"). You can communicate your request in the weekly survey or send an email to coronavirusquestions@reed.edu.

If you have questions, please send an email to the COVID-19 Risk Assessment Group at coronavirusquestions@reed.edu.

Sincerely,

Mandy Heaton
Public Affairs
Reporting on behalf of the COVID-19 Risk Assessment Group

PS As a reminder, we keep track of all our COVID-19 communications here.