Responding to COVID-19

RESPONDING TO COVID-19 A Total Campus Effort

A proactive, collaborative approach and a lot of planning are the factors that Dr. Dave Rozeboom credits with keeping the spread of COVID-19 relatively contained during the 2020-21 academic year so far. “It’s been a team effort,” according to Rozeboom, who is vice president for Student Life. “I am unbelievably proud of our campus community effort in terms of COVID-19 communication, collaboration, and awesome support for our students. We have tackled this problem at Mars Hill through a collaborative process, and we have taken a proactive approach to testing and to quarantining students who have been exposed.” These factors, he said, have contained Mars Hill’s total positive cases so far this academic year to 98* students. (*as of March 11, 2021.)

The COVID-19 Response Team

Mitigating the spread of COVID-19 and addressing the needs of the campus have been the primary goals of the COVID-19 Response Team (CRT), a cross-section of key personnel on campus. Their tasks have included addressing everything from the physical health and wellness of the campus community to facilities, safety and security, academics, and others. Prior to students’ return in the fall, the CRT closely monitored local and national guidance to establish new COVID-19-related policies and procedures for the campus. The group met virtually on a daily basis to prepare for a safe reopening and to continually assess the needs of the campus. Since the opening of the academic year, the CRT team has managed COVID-19 testing and contact tracing protocols (with medical services and athletic training personnel), has addressed policy violations and concerns, has assisted with plans to reintegrate student athletes back into practice and competition, has updated university website dashboard numbers, and has reviewed various forms of data to forecast how the virus might continue to affect the campus. The team has worked closely with the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) and with Madison County Health Department.

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Responding to COVID-19, continued

“I have met with MHU staff at least weekly for the past year and sometimes more often. Our communicable disease staff talk daily with staff at the university,” said Tammy Cody, director of the Madison County Health Department. “Considering the population and the fact that so many students reside in communal living, there have been minimal COVID cases at MHU. We have worked with the staff on COVID guidelines and testing. The staff have been on the forefront of taking steps to protect students, university staff and our community. I could not ask for a better partner than MHU in protecting our community.” Protocols that grew out of the work of the CRT included a campus-wide effort to encourage faculty, staff, and students to (1) take their temperatures and log any COVID-related symptoms in a computer application daily, (2) wear masks anywhere on campus (except personal offices and residence hall rooms), and (3) adhere to social distancing recommendations of at least six feet.

Student Health Ambassadors

In an effort to encourage students to adopt these practices, and with funding provided by a MAHEC grant, the university implemented a Student Health Ambassador (SHA) program. Dr. Kari Hunt, assistant professor of health, human performance and recreation, serves as the coordinator of the program and has hired six students to engage the campus community in responding to COVID-19 and adopting safe, evidence-based practices. Using positive messaging and reinforcement, the SHAs promote the 3 W’s (WEAR a mask, WAIT 6 feet apart, and WASH your hands). They also encourage their peers through the Healthy Lions Campaign, an initiative “to keep the Lions safe, healthy, and on campus!” The campaign includes a reward system to encourage and support students who are demonstrating appropriate health behaviors and following COVID-19 guidelines. “We are extremely fortunate to have received funding for this SHA program. Peer education can be a very powerful tool for promoting and adopting new health behaviors such as the 3 W’s during this pandemic,” Hunt said. “I am so proud of how our six SHAs have stepped up to meet this challenge.” Overall, the SHAs contributed approximately 400 hours to the campus-wide response effort during the fall semester, and their work is ongoing.

Proactive Quarantine and Isolation Protocol

In response to the daily logging of temperatures and symptoms, staff from the Student Health Center made contact with anyone on campus who reported a higher-than-normal temperature, or any other symptom associated with COVID-19. According to Stephanie Shelton, director of the Student Health Center, students who reported even one symptom were contacted and quarantined, or sent home, until they returned a negative test. That method has resulted in several cases of quarantine on campus at any one time, but it has undoubtedly slowed the transmission of the virus, Shelton said. “Normally when you show signs of COVID, you go to your physician, you get tested, two to three days later you get a result, and if it’s positive, you will wait for the health department to contact you regarding contact tracing. Then the health department will call your contacts,” Shelton said. “Well, that’s a week that you’re still in contact with other people and possibly spreading COVID-19. So we chose to quarantine students with symptoms and their contacts right away, in order to decrease the chance of spreading the virus.” MHU’s athletic trainers have done double duty this year as contact tracers. As soon as a student goes into quarantine, an athletic trainer contacts the student to find out about any contacts they may have on campus. At that point, any of the students, faculty, or staff who have been in contact with the student go into quarantine as well. Any students or contacts who return a positive test go into isolation until their symptoms resolve. In addition to contact tracing, athletic trainers at MHU have instituted random surveillance testing of 12.5% of all faculty, staff, and students, as well as the testing of all actively competing athletes. The testing and contact tracing comes on top of their regular duties as athletic trainers, according to Jeremy Bramlett, an athletic trainer who has coordinated MHU’s testing and contact tracing efforts. Because of this, the athletic trainers have been pulling longer-than-normal work days.

“It’s not uncommon for some of us to pull 12- to 16-hour days,” he said. “So, I want to give a shout-out to students, faculty, and staff who are masking up, washing hands, doing their symptom check-ins. All of those things make our jobs easier.” Caring for quarantined and isolated students, meeting their needs, and keeping them fed, has been quite an undertaking in itself. This includes not only coordinating the number of meals, and any dietary needs with dining services staff, but also scheduling between 35 and 40 faculty and staff volunteers who have delivered meals at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, seven days a week. In the fall semester, over 4,300 meals were delivered to students in quarantine and isolation. Staff from the Student Health Center also call or email students in quarantine and isolation at least once per day to check on them, answer questions, and make sure they have everything they need.

Academic Support

Keeping everyone safe comes first, but the CRT has also ensured that students are able to keep up if they have to miss class due to quarantine or isolation. Lisa Wachtman, senior director of student success, has served as the academic liaison for students and faculty when students had to be away from in-person classes. “It is a complete team effort; my part is to communicate with the students and their faculty if students must be placed in isolation or quarantine,” Wachtman said. “I want students to focus on their health and well-being, so I try to decrease the stress they are feeling about being out of class. I make sure students have what they need and I give them information about resources such as counseling during this stressful time. For those who are especially stressed about having to move to remote learning while out, I do daily check-ins with them by phone and/or text.” These measures, she said, are part of making students feel supported during a difficult time. “We really do want to wrap our campus arms around them,” she said.

A Total Campus Effort

Contributions to the effort to keep the campus as safe as possible have come from every corner of the university. Faculty adapted their classes to include both in-person and online participants; student life staff gave out thermometers and masks to every student as they returned in the fall; residence hall staff posted room maximums and other behavior protocols; security staff ensured that students adhere to room maximums and other protocols in the residence halls and elsewhere; and

continued on page 9 From the top: • Student Health Ambassadors (l-r) Ruben Trillo and Hunter Burnette give out hand sanitizer and thermometers.

• MHU’s new, modern Student Health Center built by facilities staff. Pictured are Director

Stephanie Shelton, and Student Health Center

Assistants Nicole Holcomb and Debra Alexander.

• Several members of the CRT and meal delivery volunteers gathered for a picture in February. • Housekeeping staff like Matt Simmons have taken on extra responsibilities during the pandemic. Matt comes in at 6 a.m. to disinfect classrooms before classes start at 8 a.m.