Recap: Planning + Process: ISSUE 18

Welcome

Welcome to issue 18 of Recap, MICA’s regular communication channel.

Recap’s mission has been—and continues to be—to help build shared understanding among the MICA community as the College navigated the complexities of the COVID-19 and reopening. As we begin to move beyond the pandemic, the ongoing need for an official College communications channel has not diminished—and Recap will carry on to fulfill this need. Here, we will continue to build shared understanding as One Team MICA.

We encourage you to use the Comment on This Topic button at the end of each story, and be sure to use the suggestion section at the end of each Recap not only to suggest ideas for future issues, but also topics for future One MICA Town Halls as well as feedback for previous ones.

And as always, some information may not apply to all programs and constituents, such as Open Studies. For specific information, please use the departmental directory at the end of this issue

MICA and its consulting epidemiological team continue to monitor the latest developments and guidance from the CDC around COVID-19 booster shots. Based on their assessment, our positive on-campus outlook, and recent health guidelines, MICA is not currently mandating booster shots for our employees or students.

The College is, however, supporting those who want—and are eligible—to receive them.

CDC recommends:
people 65 years and older and residents in long-term care settings should receive a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine at least 6 months after their Pfizer-BioNTech primary series,

people aged 50–64 years with underlying medical conditions should receive a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine at least 6 months after their Pfizer-BioNTech primary series,

people aged 18–49 years with underlying medical conditions may receive a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine at least 6 months after their Pfizer-BioNTech primary series, based on their individual benefits and risks, and

people aged 18-64 years who are at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission because of occupational or institutional setting may receive a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine at least 6 months after their Pfizer-BioNTech primary series, based on their individual benefits and risks.

Just as with COVID-19 vaccinations, MICA will provide eligible employees who need to take time off for their COVID-19 booster paid time off for up to two hours. Supervisors are required to enter department-sponsored leave for employees in Workday and add comments that explain the purpose of the leave (ex: COVID-19 Vaccination).

MICA will also provide up to two paid days to all eligible employees who experience side effects that prevent them from working after receiving their COVID-19 booster. Supervisors are required to enter department-sponsored leave for employees in Workday and add comments that explain the purpose of the leave (ex: COVID-19 Vaccination side effects)

At this time, booster shots are only available to those who received the Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine. Booster shots have not yet been approved for Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines, though the federal government is set to meet this week to discuss boosters for recipients of these shots.

As discussed in Recap 17, MICA is requiring all students and employees with approved COVID-19 vaccination exemptions —which represents less than 2 percent of the MICA community—to be tested weekly. This testing began on Monday, September 27 and we are happy to report good overall compliance with the program.

Those who fall under this category should have received information about how and when to get tested in multiple emails throughout mid-to-late September.

As a reminder, this testing is mandatory and progressive discipline will be applied for non-compliance.

If you have questions, please either contact Lisa Diggs, benefits manager, at ldiggs@mica.edu for employees, or Student Affairs at studentaffairs@mica.edu for students.

MICA’s positivity rates have been, and continue to be, exemplary with new case percentages at less than 1 percent since monitoring started in August. Our consulting epidemiologists continue to be impressed with these numbers and appreciate our community’s ongoing commitment to keeping the campus safe.

We must remain vigilant and each continue to do our parts to keep our community healthy, and the central document of this work is the Operational Mode 4 Social Agreement. All community members who are accessing campus have agreed to adhere to the guidelines and behaviors outlined within it, and we should all be honoring that agreement.

Part of the social agreement includes a daily health self-assessment using the #CampusClear app. All individuals accessing campus are required to use #CampusClear daily. This is an important element of our public health and safety strategy. Here’s why:

#CampusClear is not a monitoring tool, but rather a personal self-assessment tool. It helps remove the subjectivity and uncertainty from questions you may have like:

“Am I well enough to be on campus?”
“Should I stay home and/or call my health provider?” or
“Should this student be in my class?”

By providing each individual a simple, unambiguous determination of whether or not they should be accessing the campus, #CampusClear is designed to provide our community with an additional layer of confidence that those who are on campus or in the classroom are safe to be there.

Using the App
Confused about how to use the app? We’ve got you covered.

After creating an account using your MICA email—which you can download here for Apple, here for Android, or access here via desktop—you will be prompted each day by the app to self assess any COVID-19 symptoms (such as fever of 100.4 or above, trouble breathing, shortness of breath, cough, loss of smell or taste, fatigue) or other flu-like symptoms.

After completing the questions, you’ll receive either the OK to head to class or work, or will be told you’re not cleared for access.

See the video below for a walkthrough of the process.

NOTE: You may request a medical or religious exemption to the influenza vaccination requirement by submitting the Vaccination Exemption Request form by October 25 for employees, and October 31 for students. Student exemption forms can be found here.

On-Campus Influenza Vaccination Clinic:
To help support our community with this requirement, MICA will be hosting on-campus Flu Shot Clinics for students and employees. These vaccinations are being provided by MICA at no cost to you and multiple days are available for both groups.

Here are the dates and details.

FOR EMPLOYEES:
Thursday, October 14, 2021
Location 1: Brown Center, Leidy Atrium from 9 a.m.-12 noon
Location 2: Lazarus Center Auditorium (North Avenue) from 1 p.m.-4 p.m.

Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Location: Brown Center, Leidy Atrium from 9 a.m.-12 noon

Required documents:
Completed Pre-Screening/Consent form
Valid Faculty/Staff MICA ID card
A copy of your insurance card (MICA insurance or private insurance)

If you do not have the required documents, Safeway staff will not be able to administer the vaccine.

Please RSVP here. Walk-ins are welcome, however, please ensure that you have the required documents listed above.

FOR STUDENTS:
MICA will also hold its annual Flu Vaccine Clinics for students on campus. These vaccinations are being provided by MICA at no cost to you and multiple days are available.

Friday, October 15, 2021
Location: Brown Center, Leidy Atrium from 9:00 a.m-1 p.m.

Thursday, October 21, 2021
Location: Brown Center, Leidy Atrium from 12 noon-4 p.m.

Required documents:
Completed Pre-Screening/Consent form
Valid MICA Student ID card
A copy of your insurance card (MICA insurance or private insurance)

If you do not have the required documents, Safeway staff will not be able to administer the vaccine.

Please RSVP here. Walk-ins are welcome, however, please ensure that you have the required documents listed above.

Make sure to register for this month’s One MICA Town Hall—scheduled for 2:15-3:45 p.m. Wednesday, October 20—using this link.

As always, you can use Recap as a channel to ask questions ahead of time using the Comment on This Topic button below. We ask that you send questions by 12 p.m. Tuesday, October 19. This allows for answers to be researched and prepared ahead of the Town Hall.

Please note: Questions sent after this cutoff will still be tracked and added into the list for the Town Hall, but depending on the amount of questions and how quickly the meeting is moving, may not be able to be answered at that time and will need to be followed up with.

Don’t forget, all town halls are recorded and added to the MICA website at mica.edu/townhalls. Click below to access the September 21 town hall, which included discussions around priorities for 2021-2022, a breakdown of the exposure decision tree, an overview of the COVID-19 on-campus metrics monitoring, and more.

As a reminder, What if? is an ongoing feature of Recap intended to help create a shared understanding by posing real-world “what if” scenarios submitted by the community.

What if there aren’t enough indoor spaces for dining on campus?

In the last issue of Recap, we discussed designated indoor and outdoor areas where unmasking and eating is permitted, and what to do in the case of inclement weather.

As colder weather approaches, MICA recognizes the need for—and continues to explore—the expansion of designated eating spaces for our campus community.

Additionally, as a reminder, the on-campus eating and drinking policy provides departments with the ability to designate indoor closed spaces as additional single-occupancy eating areas within their departments.

Spaces can only be designated as an eating area if they have a door that can close, and, as with personal offices, only one person is allowed inside at a time. Additionally, spaces should have time limits in order to ensure equitable usage.

If you are creating a designated single-occupancy eating area, and feel you need supporting signage, please reach out to the Strategic Communications Department at communications@mica.edu. Signage is not mandatory.

As mentioned previously, we’ve included the ability for you to submit comments on individual topics for each issue of Recap in order to help provide an open dialogue around the complex and evolving issues of mounting the 2021 semester.

We thank all of you who have submitted thoughtful comments from past issues. Those comments are used to inform future issues, raise awareness on topics, and ultimately help build shared understanding as One Team MICA. And while we cannot provide individual recognition for each comment, we are providing a summary snapshot of those comments to promote transparency.