Keeping students, faculty and staff safe and healthy is what kept SAU’s campus open during the fall semester. Accomplishing that took a lot of teamwork from several different departments. A reopening task force was established early on to determine what processes the University needed to follow to bring students back to campus and how to manage positive cases.
University Health Services The first step to keeping campus healthy Meeting students’ needs and keeping the campus safe are top priorities for University Health Services (UHS) and University Housing during the pandemic. Both departments work diligently to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus on campus and create a positive academic and living environment. Dr. Trey Berry, SAU’s president, has offered praise for the heroic work of all faculty and staff who collaborated on safety procedures and protocols for the campus. These include not only UHS and Housing but the Risk Management and Reopening committees. “What heroes we have,” Berry said. “They have done everything
imaginable to keep us safe.” One crucial early decision in the fight against COVID-19 was to purchase two Rapid Testing machines over the summer. By the fall semester, more than 1,900 tests had been conducted using the devices. “There’s no doubt the machines helped us keep the campus safe and healthy,” said Berry. UHS has three SOFIA 2 SARS antigen testing machines that provide fast, accurate results to control the spread of COVID-19. UHS has also received an Abbott ID NOW instrument which can be used to test patients who are showing symptoms for COVID 19. It provides rapid results in 13 minutes or less. The machines are part of SAU’s overall endeavor to limit the virus’s spread, perform contact tracing, and increase safety. This has allowed UHS to offer many testing clinics for various campus populations as
Page 6
