Hi, everyone.
I hope you all had a good break and that those of you who are UVA faculty, staff, and students
are ready to start this new semester.
I’d like to start by thanking you, again, for your efforts last semester.
Without your dedication, commitment, and discipline, we would not have been able to complete the
semester safely and successfully.
You were able to accomplish something that many doubted was possible, and it was your
concern not just for yourselves but for others that made all the difference.
My main message today is that we are going to need the same resolve and compassion this
semester as well.
Last week, we announced that we will welcome undergraduate students back as previously
scheduled.
Like last semester, not all classes will be held in person—but all undergraduate classes,
both in person and online, will start on February 1.
We are also sticking with our existing plans for the start of graduate and professional
programs, which have a range of start dates for the semester.
If you are a graduate or professional student with questions, please check with your individual
school or program.
We did not make this decision lightly.
As you may know, the number of Covid cases is at an all-time high, both nationally and
locally.
But after many conversations with medical and public health experts, we have decided
to bring students back for several reasons.
First, we learned a great deal this fall and are in a much stronger position to respond
to the virus.
We can now perform thousands of tests per day, and we will be requiring every student
to get tested once a week.
We are also making regular testing available to faculty and staff.
We also have more experienced support teams and more isolation and quarantine space, and,
as a community, we have more experience following and enforcing health and safety protocols.
As was true in the fall, we also know that thousands of students will be in the area
this spring, whether classes are in-person or online.
Many of them already are.
By welcoming those students to Grounds, we will have a better sense of what’s happening
and will be able to do more to keep our students and members of the community safe.
Leaders in the health system are also confident about our hospital capacity.
UVA Health has 736 hospital beds, and while the health system is busy right now, that
activity is driven primarily by non-COVID patients, many of whom are undergoing elective
procedures.
We have opened a second Covid unit in our new bed tower and can flex to create more
beds if the number of cases goes up.
We will keep monitoring the situation closely and will adjust if we have to.
We also learned a lot last semester about how the virus spreads—and the relative risks
of different environments.
We did not see any evidence of transmission within classrooms or from UVA students to
faculty, staff, and members of the community this fall.
And we have every reason to believe that will continue to be the case—as long as we keep
following health and safety guidelines.
That last part is going to be more important than ever.
With more Covid cases in and around Charlottesville—and with news of more contagious variants being
detected across the country—we are going to have to be even more vigilant than we were
last semester.
That’s why we are taking additional steps to prevent the spread of the virus—from
encouraging students to quarantine before returning, to requiring all students to submit
a negative Covid test before returning, to testing all students within seven days of
arrival back in Charlottesville.
We’re also limiting the size of gatherings to no more than six people starting January
19 and continuing through at least the first two weeks of the semester.
I realize this limit asks more of all of us – especially our students, but we want to
make sure we do everything we can to get off to a strong start and avoid a surge in cases
at the outset of the semester.
We’ve heard from many of you—especially faculty, staff, and members of the community—about
when you’ll be able to get the vaccine.
The Virginia Department of Health is in charge of distributing the vaccine, and UVA Health
is partnering with our local health district to accelerate distribution.
We’re giving out as many doses as we get to the people VDH and the local health district
tell us are eligible, but it’s going to take time to vaccinate everyone.
For a number of reasons, as Dean Groves will explain in a minute, it remains incredibly
important for everyone to keep following health and safety measures, especially mask wearing
and social distancing in public—even if you’ve had Covid or have already gotten
the vaccine.
This semester won’t be easy.
As I mentioned, if anything, it’s going to take even more patience, more vigilance,
and more creativity from all of us, especially until the weather gets warmer.
The difference between success and failure really will come down to the many small, personal
decisions each of us makes every day.
We will need help and resolve from all of you to make this semester work.
We all know by now that Covid is a virus that will take advantage of every lapse and misstep,
which means that our health and safety guidelines and university testing strategy have never
been more important.
Conditions are more challenging than they were in the fall, and we will be prepared
to change plans if we have to.
But we’ve been through this before.
We know what it takes.
And I am confident that, together, we can make it through this semester just like we
did the last one.
I look forward to seeing all of you soon, even if it’s virtually.
And now I’ll turn it over to our Dean of Students, Allen Groves, to talk a little more
about what this semester will look like for students.
Thank you.
Thanks Jim.
I want to start by saying “thank you” to our students.
Last fall, we asked you to return to Grounds only if you were prepared to make personal
sacrifices and help us protect the entire community from COVID, including those more
vulnerable than yourselves.
This meant conducting events virtually, limiting the size of gatherings, and complying with
masking and facial distancing requirements.
I want to specifically thank our student members of Resident Staff who worked to keep everyone
safe in our residence halls, our fraternities and sororities who came together early on
and agreed to refrain from hosting social gatherings, and everyone who stepped up in
a public health crisis to allow the University to maintain an in-person semester.
There were certainly some instances where compliance fell short and required that students
and student organizations be held accountable through our student-run UJC, but those tended
to be the exception, not the rule.
When cases spiked in September and gathering limits had to be temporarily reduced to 5,
students responded to the challenge and case counts began to decline.
So again, thank you.
As President Ryan said, we are faced with a situation now that is not unlike September.
Case counts are spiking regionally and nationally.
Last Friday, the New York Times reported the CDC is warning, and I’m quoting, that “a
far more contagious variant of the coronavirus first identified in Britain could become the
dominant source of infection in the United States by March, and would likely lead to
a wrenching surge in cases and deaths that would further burden overwhelmed hospitals.”
This is what we face in the coming weeks and months.
For this reason, we have lowered the gathering limit to 6 people at least until Feb. 14,
when it will be reassessed.
This number was chosen in consultation with medical experts as a good limit to allow some
socialization while helping reduce the threat of viral spread.
It also allows a suite of students in a residence to gather without leaving anyone out.
Our fraternities and sororities have also agreed to adhere to this limit in their upcoming
recruitment activities, which is critical.
We have a system in place to review requests for exceptions to the gathering limits, although
any exception must stay within the restrictions set by the Commonwealth, city and county.
Last fall, we received 40 such requests from student groups and schools, and approved 32.
Exception requests must clearly set out the nature of the planned event and the measures
being employed to help insure safety and avoid virus transmission.
Such requests may be forwarded to our office via odos@virginia.edu.
We will also continue to look for other opportunities for you to safely engage in student life within
the restrictions necessitated by the virus.
That said, I need to make clear that we will step up compliance enforcement this semester,
given what we are seeing in virus trends and rising case counts.
We have to protect our community and avoid overwhelming our medical system.
Students should be well-versed by now in what is required, including the necessity to gather
in groups of 6 or less, wear masks at all times, and maintain a 6 foot minimum distance.
Given the increasing risk, we will move even more quickly to immediately address violations
and, in the most severe cases, suspend those who do not comply.
It won’t take many violations of scale to quickly unravel the in-person aspects of the
spring semester, so each person’s decision to fully comply really matters.
I also want to speak about the perception among some that once you have had COVID, restrictions
should no longer apply to you.
As University leadership explained in an email last Friday, the science around whether those
who have had COVID -can contract the virus again and spread it to others again is inconclusive.
People who contract COVID may shed the virus for a period of time that extends beyond the
alleviation of symptoms or a positive test.
Of course, our fellow community members also have no way of knowing which people previously
tested positive and which are putting themselves and others at risk by ignoring health and
safety standards.
Universal adherence to COVID prevention restrictions will avoid anxiety within our shared community
and prevent potential conflict.
Most importantly, following these standards is part of the commitment people who are on
Grounds make to the University and to each other.
Lastly, with respect to the COVID vaccine, except for students training in a health care
field and working with patients, the general student population is not yet eligible to
receive the vaccine.
If you have not received an email invitation directed to you, you are not eligible for
a vaccine right now we ask that you please do not try to sign up for one.
Our local health district is working to vaccinate what are called category 1A -- health care
personnel and residents of long term care facilities, with the assistance of the UVA
Medical Center.
The health district will next move on to category 1B, focusing on those age 75 and over.
We do not yet know when most students will be vaccinated as they are not in any of the
groupings announced so far.
The Governor has said he hopes all residents of the state will be vaccinated by the early
summer.
As soon as we know more, we will let you know.
By choosing to return to Grounds this spring, you are agreeing to abide by these restrictions
imposed by the University, and to stay aware of any changes to those restrictions that
may be necessitated by changing viral trends.
This means you need to read the weekly COVID email updates, which we are working to make
easier to navigate so you can easily get to the information most pertinent to you.
Our students did an admirable job in working to keep everyone safe last fall, and we need
an even greater level of commitment this spring as we enter the most potentially dangerous
phase of the virus in terms of rising case counts and ease of viral spread.
I know we are capable of doing this, and I wish you the best as we begin the spring semester.