ON THE HILL The mass campus testing event on November 13, pictured here, yielded a 1.5% positivity rate. The Minnesota Department of Health had warned Gustavus to expect a rate of between 10 and 15 percent. “That was when we realized what we had done worked,” says COVID response coordinator Barb Larson Taylor ’93.
A SEMESTER OF COVID-19: HOW WE ROAR-ED
there were no best practices, and the
the fall semester and in January, they did. It helped that first-year students (and
classes transitioned back and forth between online and face-to-face learning
criteria we were trying to implement kept
select returning students) moved in first,
while students and faculty navigated
changing.”
essentially for a three-week trial basis,
contact tracing and positive COVID-19
before all students were invited back
cases. When students moved home for
response coordinator (and associate
to campus. It required sacrifice. “One
winter break as scheduled, there had been
vice president for marketing and
of the biggest challenges was showing
no documented cases of transmission in a
communication) Barb Larson Taylor ’93.
first-years the culture of Gustavus when
Gustavus classroom.
COVID has truly been among the great
no one else was around,” says Lauren
challenges in Gustavus—and world—
Hecht, psychological science professor
rewarded for their decisions,” says Dale.
history. Gustavus students have risen
and director of the First Term Seminar
As was the whole campus. Consider the
to meet it.
program. For their first weeks of college,
positive test rate on campus. Gustavus
first-year students met for only one in-
Health Services administered 946
campus to rely heavily on the community
person class. All students were asked to
COVID-19 tests in the on-campus
to have the Gustie spirit and do the right
stay six feet apart and avoid gathering
clinic, along with 1,923 additional tests
thing,” says Heather Dale, director of the
indoors.
during three mass testing events. Fewer
Those are the words of COVID
“We made an intentional decision as a
Gustavus Health Service and a member of
There were only 16 confirmed cases of
“Students that made safe choices were
than 200 positive cases were recorded
the COVID Response Leadership Team.
COVID-19 in September—those students
between September and December,
The College asked students to ROAR—
set the tone for the rest of the semester.
making the cumulative positive rate 6.8
Respect Others and Act Responsibly. In
As the semester progressed, many
percent total.
GUSTAVUS QUARTERLY | SPRING 2021
“Nobody in the world had done this,
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