On Friday, June 18, the Alameda County Public Health Department released an updated order that continued the Shelter in Place and allowed additional business activity to resume, including educational institutions. The order also referenced career internships, pathway and in-class summer program instruction at colleges and universities as approved activities. On that basis, Life West has been preparing for the start of the summer quarter on Monday, July 13 online and with specified on-ground labs in class (technique and clinical science), and Monday, July 20 in the hyflex format. This resumption relates to students, faculty, and to all other employees on a phased basis.
On Monday, June 29, ACPHD released a statement saying that, given recent increases in COVID-19 cases and hospitalization rates in Alameda County, they will be temporarily pausing reopening plans and extending the timeline on the next phase of reopening beyond what they have already authorized. This means pausing reopening activities and extending the timeline for the next phase of reopening in Alameda County.
The pullback from further re-opening does not impact the current schedule for the summer quarter. Unless we hear otherwise from ACPHD, the college will continue preparing for the start of the summer quarter online and on-ground labs in class on July 13, and in the hyflex format on July 20, in line with the ACPHD orders currently in place. If any changes are made in the ACPHD orders in the next weeks, the college will take appropriate and quick action to stay in compliance. We previously committed to a 12 day early notice for any changes from the beginning of Covid-19, and we have held to our commitment. Given the current fluidity of changes, and keeping current with compliance measures that are in place, we will be giving updates in shorter time frames.
Student Update: Starting next week the Office of Academic Affairs will resume the OAA communication with students providing them detailed information for the start of the quarter.
Employee Update: Please refer to the following documents for further information: The Reintegration Plan, Physical Campus Checklist, and the FAQ list. Please contact HR at hr@lifewest.edu if there are any questions or issues that are not covered in the online documents.
Employees are strongly encouraged to complete and acknowledge four informational modules on COVID-19 Prevention that are available to employees to view on Paycom Employee Self-Service site (Symptoms of Coronavirus, How Does COVID-19 Spread?, How Do I Protect Myself from COVID-19?, and What Do I Need to Know About Handwashing?).
Every day, the Taskforce is working to ensure the campus is compliant and our staff and faculty return to work in an environment that protects your health, safety, and well-being. At all times, we will continue to regularly clean and sanitize work and common spaces as well as clinical and teaching areas, as well as reinforcing preventative behaviors such as social distancing, face coverings, and hand washing among other required standards. The Self-Observation/Health Questionnaire will continue to be used before any employee returns to campus.
As always, stay safe and up-to-date by checking the Covid-19 Campus Update and checking your email daily for updates. If you have any questions or feedback you would like to share, please email us at taskforce@lifewest.edu.