Dear TCU Community,
Congratulations on completing our first week of the fall semester. Thank you to our dedicated students, faculty and staff for your allegiance to Protecting The Purple and continuing our mission.
New reporting dashboard
Our COVID-19 reporting has been updated to provide our community with a more comprehensive view of our COVID-19 response and ability to support a healthy campus. The new COVID-19 Dashboard includes daily cases and total cases for a better understanding of trends, in addition to current active cases.
It also includes the status of Isolation Bed Capacity, Availability of Protective Equipment and Enhanced Cleaning. Currently, the status of all three is Level Green. At this time, we have ample isolation bed capacity, should it become necessary. Protective equipment such as cleaning supplies, disposable face coverings and tests are in full supply, and our enhanced standard of cleaning protocols continues. The dashboard will be updated Monday - Friday by 9 a.m.
Increase in student positive COVID-19 cases
Like many universities across the country that welcomed students back to campus, we are closely monitoring the increase in positive COVID-19 cases among our students. The Chancellor’s Fall 2020 Readiness Task Force and Office of Emergency Management monitor COVID-19 testing and contact tracing activity, positive test results and isolation bed capacity throughout the day. The TCU Health Center is actively testing, treating as necessary, and supporting contact tracing for our students; as well as supporting students in quarantine or isolation. Previously released health information can be found in our Public Health Policy and Connected Campus/COVID-19 microsite.
I’m encouraged by reports of the majority of community members supporting our healthy campus by complying with our health and safety protocols. However, I am concerned by reports of off-campus gatherings that include a disregard for physical distancing and wearing face coverings. It is our expectation that all TCU community members will follow health and safety protocols so that we can remain on campus and provide an optimal learning environment for many in our community.
Prepared for flexibility with the TCU Connected Campus
We have entire teams devoted to testing, treating and monitoring multiple aspects affecting the health of our community. Some of these factors are included in the dashboard, but also include environmental factors, such as local hospital and ventilator capacity, as well as directives from local, state and federal health authorities. There is not one number or benchmark that would indicate a change in our campus status; however, we have seen that any one of these factors can change rapidly. Our connected campus experience means we are prepared for maximum flexibility and readiness should in-person classes have to move to online only.
Every step of navigating through this pandemic is truly unprecedented. It is our collective desire as a community to move forward and achieve our goals of academic success and personal growth. I believe we can achieve this if our entire community is committed to #ProtectThePurple.
Kathy Cavins-Tull