Preparing for Coronavirus?

[clean]

And if they refuse to let at-risk folks like me teach fully online, that's fine:  go ahead and keep me on the F2F schedule for 2 classes on TR.

I recommend (and am in the beginning processes myself) of completing the forms for an ADA (Americans with disabilities act) accommodation.  Your employer will have the paperwork.  Get your doctor's notes ready now and begin the process.  Dont do anything that may provide THEM with the ability to fire you.  Put THEM on the defensive by asking for an ADA accommodation NOW (Before the start of the term).  They may well try to fight it, but it may be hard to do when most places I know did not return from Spring Break, and went to 100% online education.  If you think that you meet the requirements to be high risk, then get the paperwork together. 

Remember, though, that simply being afraid of CV19 is not sufficient. 

It seems to me that the rationalle that I am hearing from universities to reopen are financial.  They need students on campus to pay the bills (debt obligations) associated with parking garages, dorms,  and such.  IF we are 100% online then no students live on campus or pay the parking fees.  Also, the bigger worry is that parents and students think that online is inferior and dont see the need to pay full fees for a substitute product.  The administration stance at my employer is clear:  "We can not all be online. "

Still, if you have issues that place you in particular danger, then document them and put the ball in their court to make them deny your accommodation (which they CAN DO!   I just think that it would be difficult since the accommodation you seek was something that they already did in the Spring!!).

[pigou]

For people who teach F2F, I'd recommend bringing a box of surgical masks for the students. Or better yet, asking the department to buy them. It's tempting to think that some students are refusing to wear masks as a political statement. But the more likely reason is just that they're forgetful or unprepared. If most students wear a mask, or an instructor asks them to, it takes a special level of anti-social behavior to actively refuse... in which case they'll get the social punishment from their classmates. Passively not doing something, on the other hand, is our default: there are millions of things we don't do, many of which would benefit us or others, and many of which we want to do and yet still don't.

If I were in a classroom (we're fully online for the Fall), I'd pick up a stash of KN95 masks. They're the Chinese equivalent to N95 and you can get them for around $1.60 a piece on Alibaba. Down to $1 if you order 1,000 of them in bulk, and under 50 cents if you order 10,000... which is a really small expense for a university. While surgical masks primarily protect others, N95 masks protect you.

[Caracal]

If I were in a classroom (we're fully online for the Fall), I'd pick up a stash of KN95 masks. They're the Chinese equivalent to N95 and you can get them for around $1.60 a piece on Alibaba. Down to $1 if you order 1,000 of them in bulk, and under 50 cents if you order 10,000... which is a really small expense for a university. While surgical masks primarily protect others, N95 masks protect you.

https://www.propublica.org/article/federal-agencies-have-spent-millions-on-kn95-masks-often-without-knowing-who-made-them

So, maybe not...They also aren't necessarily very easy to use in a general setting. To really work well, they are supposed to be fitted. People with facial hair apparently can't wear them sometimes. They also can cause breathing problems if people have certain conditions. I've read some arguments that face shields might actually be a much easier and better solution. The idea seemed pretty weird at first, but it actually could work a lot better. I'm fairly worried about whether I could teach in a mask. I don't mind putting one on for five minutes when I walk into a store, but I start getting really hot and uncomfortable if I wear it for very long, or if I'm moving around or talking.

[mamselle]

You get used to it....medical personnel do it all the time.

(Just watch CSI, or some old Quincy, MD re-runs...you'll get the hang of it.....)

M.

[pigou]

If I were in a classroom (we're fully online for the Fall), I'd pick up a stash of KN95 masks. They're the Chinese equivalent to N95 and you can get them for around $1.60 a piece on Alibaba. Down to $1 if you order 1,000 of them in bulk, and under 50 cents if you order 10,000... which is a really small expense for a university. While surgical masks primarily protect others, N95 masks protect you.

https://www.propublica.org/article/federal-agencies-have-spent-millions-on-kn95-masks-often-without-knowing-who-made-them

So, maybe not...They also aren't necessarily very easy to use in a general setting. To really work well, they are supposed to be fitted. People with facial hair apparently can't wear them sometimes. They also can cause breathing problems if people have certain conditions. I've read some arguments that face shields might actually be a much easier and better solution. The idea seemed pretty weird at first, but it actually could work a lot better. I'm fairly worried about whether I could teach in a mask. I don't mind putting one on for five minutes when I walk into a store, but I start getting really hot and uncomfortable if I wear it for very long, or if I'm moving around or talking.

It's like with every order: buy from established parties, e.g. manufacturers of medical supplies that have been around for years. Don't buy from a sketchy retailer that popped up 3 months ago. Doesn't guarantee that you don't end up with a counterfeit product, but it almost surely will be more effective than a surgical mask, and even more so than a cloth mask or no mask at all. If someone places orders on behalf of a university, they now have 2 months to hop on a plane and check out the factory in person. In fact, they really had 6 months since we knew this was going to be an issue.

I've shaved my facial hair at the beginning of the pandemic. That's a pretty easy problem to solve. But also: the exposure risk from being in a classroom is massively lower than the exposure people face who use N95 masks in clinical settings, so "close enough" is already going to get us most of the way there. And while breathing problems may make it harder for some people to wear masks, we're now talking about a really, really small share of the population. A university can easily make special accommodations for the 1-in-100 faculty who legitimately can't wear a proper N95 mask. But they really ought to figure things out for the 99-in-100 who can do so.

[clean]

My understanding is that my campus will 'encourage' but definitely not require masks.  How much support will you get if a student doesnt want to wear a mask?  It only takes one carrier to get you sick!  he bigger you make the issue (to ensure you stay healthy, mind you) the more push back some idiot/asshole/arrogant student/carrier will make .  IF you recall the video of the confrontation at a Costco not long ago, the non mask wearer didnt need to wear a mask because "I woke up in a free country". 
As my administration is not going to require masks, I do not see them backing me up should I try to require them in my classroom. 
The more militant I become, like calling in sick or avoiding going to class to expose myself, the more I fear that the administration would push back to say that I was not doing my job as expected or that I was defiant and ignoring their authority to make me go to a room with unmasked students. 

it is not a good situation.  There will be no heros from this. 

[Stockmann]

My employer, or at least my department, is allowing instructors of normally f2f courses to choose whether we'll teach f2f or hybrid next term. I've signed up for hybrid, but it's clear as mud what that will mean in practice. Officially we'll return to campus next term, though given local conditions that's dubious. We simply don't have the classroom space, etc that would be needed to effectively socially distance, and our classrooms, etc are generally poorly ventilated, and the only chance of having sufficiently widespread compliance with wearing facemasks would be to have security deny access to campus, and to any individual buildings, to anyone not wearing one. If we do return to campus I predict a Beijing scenario - outbreaks making us go back online in the middle of the term. Again, socially distancing on my campus seems logistically unlikely, plus many of our students commute using public transportation and we have a high number of elderly instructors, so it would be a recipe for disaster.

[apl68]

This coming week our local riding club is holding its annual rodeo.  It's one of the biggest local events each year--and promises to be even bigger this year, because many rodeos in bigger locations have been cancelled this season.  We're going to have a LOT of visitors from all over the U.S.  It's a good opportunity for the local economy, and heaven knows we could use that, but will very likely lead to a local surge of COVID 19. 

In addition, we have a certain staff member who...well, let's just say she likes to ride a cowboy.  She's going to be VERY involved in all sorts of ways with the rodeo and the rodeo crowd the whole week it's in town, and is likely to become a vector.  The rest of the staff are worried about the rodeo in general and this fellow worker in particular.

[AmLitHist]

And if they refuse to let at-risk folks like me teach fully online, that's fine:  go ahead and keep me on the F2F schedule for 2 classes on TR.

I recommend (and am in the beginning processes myself) of completing the forms for an ADA (Americans with disabilities act) accommodation.

Clean, I've already attempted this (started 3 weeks ago). They aren't accepting any applications, as they haven't yet said whether we'll be back F2F or if we'll be online.  We should know that by tomorrow, if they hold to their originally-stated date to reveal the information.  And I don't just think I'm high-risk; my internist has already ordered me not to be in a classroom until there's an effective vaccine widely available and in use, because of my risk factors.

I'm well familiar with the ADA process, and also with what a complete PitA it is at my  place (which I why I tried to start it early for COVID).  I already have an accommodation related to some orthopedic issues, and it took a full three months to get that processed last summer/fall even though the actual accommodation/need for it was a no-brainer.

[spork]

And if they refuse to let at-risk folks like me teach fully online, that's fine:  go ahead and keep me on the F2F schedule for 2 classes on TR.

I recommend (and am in the beginning processes myself) of completing the forms for an ADA (Americans with disabilities act) accommodation.

Clean, I've already attempted this (started 3 weeks ago). They aren't accepting any applications, as they haven't yet said whether we'll be back F2F or if we'll be online.  We should know that by tomorrow, if they hold to their originally-stated date to reveal the information.  And I don't just think I'm high-risk; my internist has already ordered me not to be in a classroom until there's an effective vaccine widely available and in use, because of my risk factors.

I'm well familiar with the ADA process, and also with what a complete PitA it is at my  place (which I why I tried to start it early for COVID).  I already have an accommodation related to some orthopedic issues, and it took a full three months to get that processed last summer/fall even though the actual accommodation/need for it was a no-brainer.

I'm hearing rumors that my employer is going to tell faculty that they have to choose either 100% online or 100% on campus for the fall semester if they think they are in a high-risk group, even though on-campus instruction will in reality be hybrid with an altered classroom schedule due to social distancing requirements. I see this as a way for the university to minimize its legal liability if someone at high risk gets infected.

[AmLitHist]

Just heard some news from my Dean; I'll hold off sharing it here since it's pretty easy to figure out where I work.  One important thing, though, is that tomorrow's "updated schedule will be available to all" has now been pushed back to (as she put it) "hopefully" July 1, which with the 4th holiday upcoming means it'll probably be closer to July 10 before plans are public.

[Cheerful]

Just heard some news from my Dean; I'll hold off sharing it here since it's pretty easy to figure out where I work.  One important thing, though, is that tomorrow's "updated schedule will be available to all" has now been pushed back to (as she put it) "hopefully" July 1, which with the 4th holiday upcoming means it'll probably be closer to July 10 before plans are public.

Interesting, thanks, sounds like possibly good news for you and colleagues?  Wishing you all the best, AmLitHist.  A shame that people like you, clean, and many others have been put through so much stress when things could have been handled much better.

With July just around the corner, I'll get out the popcorn and watch how leadership of colleges and u's continue to strategize and manage ("spin") the seemingly inevitable necessity of doing almost fully online in fall in most places.

[hmaria1609]

DC will enter Phase 2 on Monday:
https://wtop.com/dc/2020/06/dc-phase-two-coronavirus-reopening-begins-monday/

[mamselle]

This coming week our local riding club is holding its annual rodeo.  It's one of the biggest local events each year--and promises to be even bigger this year, because many rodeos in bigger locations have been cancelled this season.  We're going to have a LOT of visitors from all over the U.S.  It's a good opportunity for the local economy, and heaven knows we could use that, but will very likely lead to a local surge of COVID 19. 

In addition, we have a certain staff member who...well, let's just say she likes to ride a cowboy.  She's going to be VERY involved in all sorts of ways with the rodeo and the rodeo crowd the whole week it's in town, and is likely to become a vector.  The rest of the staff are worried about the rodeo in general and this fellow worker in particular.

Amused by your succinct way of describing your colleagues ummm.....engaging but worrisome behavior.

Can you require temp checks for all staff as a universal screening protocol? Or require quarantine for those seen unmasked in public settings?

I realize that puts you in an uncomfortable position of healthcare oversight, but I agree with you: I'd be worried about this person's disregard for basic health issues re: the rest of the staff, too.

M.

[clean]

In addition, we have a certain staff member who...well, let's just say she likes to ride a cowboy.

If she rides a cowboy while wearing a mask (and 'glove') would that be ok?