Greetings,

Thank you for your participation in the efforts to get us Back to Campus safely and efficiently. You will find an archive of past digests at our website.

King and Pierce counties are in Phase 2 of Governor Inslee’s Healthy Washington plan. UW officially changed its recovery status on 2/1. Learn more about the UW’s plan. Review and update your COVID-19 prevention plans, especially if anything in the workplace has changed since your last review. Telework is still strongly encouraged. Use the Return to On-site Work Decision Tree as a guide.

Returning to Campus

• On 2/9/2021, UW’s Advisory Committee on Communicable Diseases, or ACCD, announced that the Husky Coronavirus Testing program detected the B.1.1.7 or “UK” variant of the coronavirus in a Seattle campus student’s test from late January, which is 30%–50% more contagious than the coronavirus variant most prevalent in our region.
• Counterfeit 3M respirators have been sold to governmental agencies, hospitals, and other institutions in several states, including Washington state. 3M issued an alert with lot codes to identify counterfeits. Please review your inventories to identify if you have any of the affected N95s in your possession. If so, do the following:
  • Collect and remove them from service immediately.
  • Box and label “DO NOT USE.”
  • Notify the Environmental Health & Safety Department (EH&S) Respirator Program Administrator, Brandon Kemperman at uwresp@uw.edu with lot and model numbers, quantity, and vendor used to purchase them. Based on the information collected, EH&S will provide you with additional guidance.
• WA’s DOH announced that phases 2, 3 and 4 of Washington's COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan are delayed with a new projected start date of summer/fall 2021. Vaccine eligibility for the next tiers: 
  • Phase 1B Tier 2: High-risk critical workers age 50 or older in congregate settings, including grocery stores, correctional facilities, public transit, schools, agriculture, etc.
  • Phase 1B Tier 3: People age 16-70 with two or more underlying health conditions.
  • Phase 1B Tier 4: High-risk critical workers in congregate settings - like Tier 2 - under age 50 and staff and volunteers of all ages in congregate living facilities.

• Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) produced the OSHA 300A summary to post in areas visible to employees from February 1- April 30 each year. EH&S also recommends electronic posting to ensure OSHA 300A forms are available to employees working from home; this can be found on the College of Engineering’s MyCoE website. 

• EH&S updated the following documents:
  • 2/5 - Prevention Guidelines for In-Person Events
  • 2/10 - Face Covering Requirements
  • 2/10 - The new coronavirus variant strain: what you need to know

• A new COVID-19 test site in the E-1 parking lot is finalized and open to the public for testing. Please note this test site is not a part of the Husky Coronavirus Testing Program. 

• The WA Notify COVID-19 exposure notification app is live, enabling participants to utilize smartphone technology to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 
• EH&S has launched a dedicated phone hotline for UW students, faculty and staff to call with questions or to report on positive test results: 206-616-3344. All messages are logged and retrieved daily with appropriate follow-up provided by EH&S staff.
• EH&S requires this online training for all persons on campus (faculty, staff, and students), even if they have already been working onsite as a critical employee, prior to returning to campus.
• Daily attestations are required for all staff and academic personnel coming to campus. 
  • For staff and student employees/supervisors
  • For academic personnel, including faculty, librarians, medical residents and fellows, postdoctoral scholars, and academic staff

Returning to Work

• Unit/site-specific COVID-19 Prevention Plans are required for University workplaces.
• The UW has convened a Back to the Workplace Task Force reviewing and updating University protocols for how more UW employees can return to in-person work on our campuses.

Returning to Research

• Office of Research’s Guidance for Returning to In-Person Research.

Returning to School

• The Office of Student Life has announced My SSP, which provides students access to real-time, confidential mental health and crisis intervention support, available 24/7 and in multiple languages. Available at: 1.866.743.7732, online chat, via the My SSP app as well as on the mental health landing page on the Husky Health and Well-Being website. 
• The UW has convened a Back to School Task Force reviewing and updating University protocols for campus spaces including residences, classrooms, labs and libraries.

Visit uw.edu/coronavirus for the most up-to-date communications and information for our UW community. 

If you have info for us to share in the digest, or feedback or questions, you can email us at engineeringuw@uw.edu. Please note, the contents of this email do not represent the full breadth of information and resources available. If we missed something, let us know.