To the Anna Maria College Community,
As the 2020 Fall Semester comes to an end, I’d like to take this opportunity to share our final statistics and observations, as well as let you know about the planning for the 2021 Spring Semester.
Before I delve into the numbers, I’d like to thank the entire community for your support and cooperation this past semester. Overall, it was clear that students, faculty and staff wanted to be on campus and were willing to follow all the necessary protocols to make that happen. We had a number of unforeseen challenges along the way, and everyone was flexible enough to adapt when necessary to make everything work. Thank you to everyone!
Fall 2020 By the Numbers
| Total Number of Tests On Campus | 18,418 |
| Total Number of Positive Test Results on Campus |
31 |
|
Campus Testing Positivity Rate |
0.17% |
| Total Number of Students and Employees who reported a positive test result from an off campus testing site |
7 |
Monthly Chart (Campus Testing Program)
| Month | Total # of Tests | Total # of Positive Results |
Monthly Positivity Rate |
| August | 2,986 | 5 | 0.17% |
| September | 6,517 | 3 | 0.05% |
| October | 6,493 | 10 | 0.15% |
| November | 2,422 | 13 | 0.54% |
Students Quarantined during the semester as a Close Contact to a positive case
| Resident Students | 100 |
| Commuter Students | 29 |
As with many colleges in Massachusetts, we experienced an increase in positive cases in November that put us in the position to make some very difficult decisions. As we monitored the trends throughout the state and in Central Massachusetts, it was apparent that we were not going to be able to provide the isolation and quarantine spaces and ensure a safe community without making the decision to limit access to campus and limit any travel
off campus by resident students. The increase in positive cases that have been reported throughout the region and on other campuses in Worcester since that time indicate that our prediction likely would have come true.
The relatively high number of students who were quarantined is largely due to two cases involving members of the ice hockey programs. The State Epidemiologist requires that anyone in the rink with a player who tested positive within 48 hours be considered a close contact and placed in quarantine, due to the cold dry air in the rink providing an environment conducive to the virus spreading more easily. Since each team had practiced the day before a player received a positive test result, the team members were all required to quarantine, even though each team had been following all safety protocols. The average number of quarantined students for all other student positive cases was slightly more than 3, which is an indicator that people were conscientious about wearing masks and maintaining healthy distancing.
Community Violations
There were some violations of the COVID protocols during the semester, many of which were mask violations. We received over 30 unique reports of violations to CovidReport@annamaria.edu and each report was addressed. There were twelve students who were removed from campus and assigned to remote status for violations of COVID protocols, including guest violations, repeated mask violations or failure to comply with the required testing schedule. Approximately ten faculty and staff members were issued warnings for violations, the majority of which were for failure to wear a mask.
Spring 2021
There is a steering committee refining the plans for Spring 2021 semester. Recommendations will be made to the College President and Vice Presidents. The Board of Trustees, who have had special meetings monthly to be appraised of the situation, will also be informed and participate in any final decisions. We are currently planning on returning to on-ground instruction on February 8, 2021, however we are also aware that may not be possible depending on the severity of the pandemic over the next several weeks. We will have plans in place if we need to delay the semester or begin the semester with remote education. The public health experts are informing us that it is unlikely that we will be able to make a final decision until early to mid-January. All announcements about the Spring 2021 semester, including an updated Return to Campus Guide, will be posted at annamaria.edu/Covid-19 and sent to your Anna Maria email. I encourage you to check both regularly.
CoVerified App
As you may recall, the CoVerified App was not up and running in time for the start of classes, and there were some bugs that lasted into early September. Those issues have been fixed, and we will be using CoVerified again for the Spring 2021 semester, so do not delete it from your phone. Notifications have been turned off and will be turned on again in February so that you can resume your daily symptom report at that time. You will be asked to show your cleared status on the CoVerified App more often in Spring, including at the testing site, so be sure to have it properly downloaded and to keep current with symptom reporting and testing. If you need to download the app you can do so here: coverified.us/download and be sure to use your Anna Maria email address and login credentials to set up your account. The app has been recently updated to include an option to download a full test result for anyone who needs that document for travel or another purpose.
I thank you for all your efforts this semester and wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season!
Sincerely,
Andrew O. Klein
Vice President for Student Affairs
