The College continues to monitor public health information related to COVID-19. With no reports of infection in Towns County or the local public health district, risks to students and employees remain low, so the College currently plans to restart classes on schedule Monday, March 16. However, in keeping with federal and state recommendations, the College is taking the following precautions:
- Beginning March 16, all class absences are excused until March 27. If you believe that you may have been exposed to COVID-19, have any symptoms that you have reason to suspect could be caused by COVID-19 (fever, cough, shortness of breath), or have recently traveled to any country currently under a CDC Level 2 or Level 3 Travel Health Notice (China, Iran, Italy, Japan, South Korea), we encourage you to self-quarantine at home. If you or someone in your immediate family is at higher risk of getting very sick from COVID-19 (individuals with heart disease, lung disease, or diabetes, the immunosuppressed, and older adults), please consider staying at home. If you decide to stay home, please communicate this immediately with your instructors and your academic advisor. Classes will continue, and instructors will work to accommodate absent students by putting course materials on Moodle, providing synchronous instruction via Webex, or making other appropriate arrangements.
- Beginning on March 16, all employees will be allowed to work from home until March 27 if they are affected by any of the conditions mentioned above. As a result, some face-to-face classes may temporarily shift to an online delivery model, some offices may have limited staff for in-person meetings, and some alternative arrangements may have to be made to provide certain services.
- Beginning today, all College-sponsored non-essential travel is cancelled until May 31. This includes international study-abroad and domestic study-away programs, scrimmages for out-of-season athletic teams, and service-learning activities outside of our immediate area. In-season athletic events and local service-learning activities will continue as scheduled for now. Should additional limits become necessary, these will be communicated to the campus community immediately.
- As you learned in the previous communication, the College has been conducting a campus-wide health and safety check over the break. Sanitation stations have been set up across campus, and all residence hall and apartment bathrooms have been sanitized. Disinfectant and cleaning products have been provided in suites not normally serviced by facilities staff, and the College encourages residential students to continue using them to minimize the potential for disease transmission in their living spaces. In addition, Sodexo is reinforcing rules for food safety and personal hygiene with all employees to reduce risk to individuals who use the dining hall.
- If you need more information, please use the email address [email protected] or the dedicated phone number (706) 379-5383 to ask questions. If you have family members with questions, please share this information with them and encourage them to use these resources.
The YHC President’s Pandemic Taskforce Response Team, led by Dr. Todd Jones, Dean of Professional Programs and former Superintendent of the U. S. Center for Domestic Preparedness, will continue to meet frequently and review all new information. Should the College need to take additional action, you will be informed immediately. In the meantime, we encourage you to continue practicing good hygiene by washing your hands thoroughly (especially after using the bathroom, after blowing your nose, after coughing or sneezing, and before eating), practicing social distancing (declining handshakes, hugs, fist bumps, or other direct contact), avoiding touching your face, and using a disposable tissue when you cough or sneeze.
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