Dear Colleagues – Several individuals have expressed concerns about the lack of apparent response to some of the constituent concerns expressed in this forum. The Provost’s Office has assured us that they are monitoring these concerns and that the primary mechanism for them to respond is via the WSU Covid FAQ page. At this juncture, we are sending a summary of outstanding constituent concerns to the Provost’s Office and have requested a direct response that we can share through this constituent concerns page. Thank you for your patience.
Additionally, here are some mostly Pullman-centric factoids about COVID-19 as of 24 Aug 2021:
- The Whitman County case count (293/100,000) is lower than the state level (437.5/100,000).
- The vaccination rate in Pullman is much higher (59%) than other areas (36-39%).
- Local hospital representatives report an increase in case load, but we are doing “ok” overall.
- Approximately 11,300 students have reported their vaccination status (>90% vaccinated) with about 500 reporting personal exemptions (these will have to be adjusted given the recent vaccination mandate). Students have until 10 September to declare their status and WSU is receiving about 200 declarations per day at present. The rolling 5-day testing average has increased to 23.6 tests/day. I don’t have a positivity rate.
- K-12 schools start classes today and a mask mandate is in place.
- More local information can be found at: https://www.whitmancountypublichealth.org (presumably, the same can be said for other campus county health departments).
- We are asking the administration for a public-facing, system-level dashboard with COVID-19 metrics.
Doug Call, Chair, Faculty Senate
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