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Vol. 117 NO. 7 October 27 - November 2, 2020
Wendell Hill Hall B sees ‘concerning’ increase in COVID-19 cases Mitchell Roland Editor-in-Chief After a total of 14 students tested positive for COVID-19 in Wendell Hill Hall B, CWU has conducted a second round of testing to see if any additional residents have the virus. The university first announced on Sunday, Oct. 18 that six residents of the hall had the virus. After testing every resident, an additional eight cases of COVID-19 were confirmed. Dean of Student Success Gregg Heinselman said the university first noticed a trend in positive cases at Wendell Hill Hall B during the middle of the week before the Oct. 18 announcement. At that point, CWU had been notified by the county that three students in Wendell Hill Hall B had tested positive for COVID-19. While Kittitas County has about a 1% spread rate among its residents, three positive tests in Wendell Hill Hall B meant there was a 2% spread rate at the time. “Any time we see a particular living community or a population of students that is greater than that 1%, we start looking at the trend lines associated with the individuals who have tested positive,” Heinselman said. While CWU’s COVID-19 task force considered implementing “surveillance testing” for residents of the hall on Friday, Oct. 16, CWU received a notification from Kittitas County that an additional three students in the hall had tested positive. That meant a
total of six residents of the hall at that time had tested positive for COVID-19. “That became concerning,” Heinselman said. The decision was made to test every student in Wendell Hill Hall B last week “to understand what percentage of a spread we had through that living community,” Heinselman said, and residents were notified on Monday, Oct. 19 of the six positive tests. In total, CWU tested 160 students as well as staff in the residence hall. The surveillance testing revealed an additional eight students who had COVID-19 as well as two inconclusive tests. The students whose tests were inconclusive were retested for COVID-19, and Heinselman said in a follow up email on Monday, Oct. 26 that he was unable to comment on the status of their test results. Heinselman noted that the number of active cases the university is tracking has dropped from 53 cases on Friday, Oct. 23 to 33 cases on Monday, Oct. 26. The additional positive tests from last week’s surveillance testing mean that in total 14 of the 160 students in Wendell Hill Hall B have tested positive for COVID-19, as well as the two additional students whose original tests were inconclusive. “It became clear to us that we had about a 10% spread rate in that residence hall, which is substantially higher than the county,” Heinselman said. “We’ve isolated all the stu-
Mitchell Roland/The Observer
While 14 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed, more residents could test positive. dents that have been positive, so we feel very good about that.” Residents in the hall were again tested for coronavirus on Monday, Oct. 26. Test results typically take 24 to 48 hours, though they can take as long as four days. The results from the second round of surveillance testing were not available at the time of publication. Heinselman said the second round of surveillance testing may show residents who are positive for COVID-19 but did
Gaudino gives his final State of the University speech Mitchell Roland Editor-in-Chief In his final State of the University speech as President of CWU, James L. Gaudino outlined the progress the university has made towards meeting his three university-wide goals while also previewing the university’s future. This speech was Gaudino’s last State of the University address, as he has previously announced that he plans to step down as president on July 31, 2021 and anticipates that a successor could be named as early as winter quarter. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s address was delivered virtually at 10 a.m. on Oct. 21 with each speaker in the speech filmed at different times in a studio, in contrast to the in-person speech held in previous years. Gaudino’s goals addressed at the speech were to increase the student retention rate between freshman and sopho-
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more year to 80%, to increase the number of diverse faculty by 5% and to reduce the campus’s carbon footprint of the university by 5%, all by 2024. Increasing Retention Rate Gaudino said CWU remains on track to increase the retention rate to 80% by 2024 and to set a more ambitious goal of increasing the retention rate to 85% over the next 10 years. Last year CWU increased its retention rate from 71% to 73%, and Gaudino said even with the pandemic CWU has enrolled its largest sophomore class in the last 10 years. To reach the goal of 85%, Gaudino said the university would use analytics to help predict when a student needs help and will guide the student towards the proper resources. CWU has been working on these analytics over the past five years. “It will be equally important not to objectify student achievement into numbers or trend lines. Doing so would mask the very
not test positive during the first round of testing. During both rounds of testing, students are self-isolated in their rooms until their test results return. While results are pending, residents are not permitted to attend any in-person classes, and meals are delivered through the CWU Dining meal delivery service. Those who test negative are not required to continue to self-isolate, while those who
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Two Democrats are running for the office of lieutenant governor Jessica Perez Staff Reporter
James L. Gaudino
reason this goal is so crucial,” Gaudino said. “Persistence is a behavioral concept based on the needs of individuals. No trend line can capture those realities.”
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Flu season means shots
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Current Lieutenant Governor Cyrus Habib will be stepping down when his term ends in December. Two candidates now remain in the race for the position. The first is Senator Marko Liias, and the second is U.S. Representative Denny Heck. Since both candidates identify as Democrats, they plan to focus on similar issues if elected. The lieutenant governor holds responsibilities in both the executive and legislative branches of government. One of their key roles is being president of the state senate, where they determine what legislation makes it to the floor
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The equestrian team and the pandemic