On Nov. 5, the Taylor University Pandemic Response Team (PeRT) announced that they would be ending their weekly emails that provided updates of the number of COVID-19 cases on campus.
Additionally, PeRT and campus officials continue to monitor the OSHA vaccine rule for employees and resulting legal cases in order to make the best decisions for Taylor. Potential OSHA guidelines could include required vaccinations or mask wearing for all employees, including student workers.
Ron Sutherland, special assistant to the president, noted that more information will be communicated from the Human Resources department as this moves forward.
Throughout the 2020-2021 school year, PeRT updated campus concerning new guidelines set by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and how Taylor would respond accordingly.
“I feel as though the PeRT updates have given me a good read on the campus condition during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic,” senior Madi Turpin, previous Personnel Assistant (PA) in Olson Hall and current PA in Wolgemuth Hall, said. “We know how to best plan for events and actions that need to be taken based on the numbers we have received in the reports.”
The team also updated campus on the COVID-19 status for students and faculty who were in active isolation for testing positive and in active quarantine for being exposed.
The number of all students, faculty and staff released from isolation and quarantine and the total positive COVID-19 tests in the academic year were also listed.
“For many weeks, our campus has experienced declining and low Covid case numbers,” the Nov. 5 update said. “As a result, we are suspending our weekly email updates. If Covid cases rise or guidelines change, we will resume these regular emails.”
COVID-19 cases for Taylor University as well as the surrounding Grant County have been on a steady decline since the beginning of the year.
Prior to the Nov. 5 update, the weekly updates sent out by PeRT showed a consistently low number of little to no active COVID cases for students and faculty.
Sutherland said that due to the steady amount of communication students, employees and parents receive from Taylor in combination with the zero or very low COVID cases, there was no need for a weekly report until there was more information available.
“The desire is to make our communication important to read and thus making the PeRT communication less ‘perfunctory’ seemed helpful in that regard,” Sutherland said. “As soon as cases were to have a meaningful change, something we are praying does not happen, the information will return to being provided.”
Though the weekly updates have been discontinued, PeRT remains to hold the same responsibilities they have always had; including reviewing current developments and programmatic recommendations, assisting with implementation suggestions, and facilitating responses in communication.
As always, PeRT continues to coordinate their efforts in order to try and be consistent and thoughtful about how the University responds to various issues associated with the pandemic.
If students have questions regarding COVID-19 guidelines for Taylor University’s campus, the PeRT website remains a solid resource. On this website, students can access information to COVID testing and vaccination sites, as well as frequently asked questions regarding the Covid pandemic and other health concerns.
For further information, visit covid19.taylor.edu.
For any questions that are not answered on the website, reach out to the Taylor Pandemic Response Team at PeRT@taylor.edu.
