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College of Engineering COVID-19 Resources Digest - January 19, 2021

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 1 of Governor Inslee’s Healthy Washington plan, and the UW’s COVID-19 Safe Start plan was modified on January 11 to mirror the state’s new framework. UW Seattle Campus is in Phase 1, and the College of Engineering is in Phase 1. It does not change significantly from the previous plan: those working remotely will continue to do so, with the exception of designated critical employees, and applies to the College of Engineering and all related departments. Learn more about the UW’s plan and phasing system. 

Returning to Campus

  • On 1/5/2021, Governor Jay Inslee announced the new Healthy Washington plan, a regional phased plan that began on 1/11/2021 with all regions in Phase 1. 
    • No counties are (currently) reverting back to more restrictive phases under this new plan;
    • King, Pierce and Snohomish counties are now grouped in the same region;
    • Most changes will not impact UW department’s COVID-19 Prevention Plans;
    • Larger regions enable improved program standardization. 
  • On 1/13/2021, the School of Public Health hosted a webinar “A Pandemic Update” with updates on the state’s new Healthy Washington plan, vaccination distribution updates and more. The recording is available now. 
  • 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. 
  • 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.

We have received reports of employees not being aware of the required online training or attestations prior to returning to campus. Please ensure this information is shared with all supervisors across your unit to inform relevant 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.

Returning to Work

  • 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

Returning to School

  • On 1/19/2021, President Ana Mari Cauce and Provost Mark Richards sent a message to the UW community announcing plans for spring quarter. Though vaccine distribution is underway, experts are not predicting that the virus will be contained enough to allow significant relaxation of health restrictions by the start of spring quarter on March 29. 
    • Most courses will continue online similar to winter quarter.
    • Plans to offer additional in-person student services and activities as the quarter progresses and state and local guidelines allow.
    • Depending on health guidelines, instructors will have flexibility to offer optional, in person class-related activities so long as students taking courses remotely are not disadvantaged.
  • 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.