Message to the University of Maine System community from Chancellor Dannel P. Malloy regarding the COVID-19 vaccine, riot at the US Congress, COVID-19 numbers rising, testing at the University of Maine System, and the return to campuses for the 2021 Spring Semester

Malloy, Dannel P.

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University of Maine

The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Chancellor University of Maine System Communications 1-8-2021 Chancellor Messages_Spring COVID Testing: Higher Numbers, Faster Results Dannel P. Malloy Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/c19_chancellor  Part of the Higher Education Commons, History Commons, and the Medicine and Health Sciences Commons This Email is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Chancellor by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact um.library.technical.services@maine.edu. Matthew Revitt <matthew.revitt@maine.edu>Spring COVID Testing: Higher Numbers, Faster Results1 messageChancellor Dannel Malloy <chancellorsoffice@maine.edu> Fri, Jan 8, 2021 at 4:15 PMReply-To: chancellorsoffice@maine.eduTo: matthew.revitt@maine.eduJanuary 8, 2021UMS Community –We ushered in 2021 barely a week ago -- with hope. A vaccine is making its wayinto our communities, rightly to our health care and front line workers first. Thepandemic will end. However, our lives and the ways in which our institutionsfunction will be affected for some time to come.Your hard work that led to a healthy and successful close to last fall’s semesterremains on my mind, along with tremendous gratitude for it.And the disturbing events in Washington, D.C. earlier this week prove that one part of higher education’swork has never been more important – that we must continue to engage our students in their pursuit andacceptance of truth and knowledge as directly as possible, as long as we can do so safely.As I told you at the close of last semester, with COVID spreading more widely than in the fall, we mustsignificantly increase our COVID testing to safely return our students and faculty to their classrooms,clinical settings, and research labs, and our staff to our campus workplaces. Thanks to the herculeanefforts of our System and university testing leaders, EOC and incident commanders, and others who workwith and support them, we are in a position to do so. However, it is important to remember that testing isonly one part of our set of mitigation strategies of course, and we must redouble our efforts to follow ourcampus public health pacts, and be disciplined about wearing masks, keeping distances, washing hands,and protecting one another.We expect to begin the Spring 2021 semester as planned on January 25, requiring those traveling from outof state to bring a negative COVID test from within 72 hours with them. We will also be testing allresidential, out-of-state, and special and on-campus populations to ensure we do not introduce COVID toour university communities. This will also ensure our ability to conduct contact tracing and appropriatelysupport isolation and quarantine of people who require such precautions.More importantly, through a new testing partnership with a fellow institution of higher education that will beannounced soon, we expect to have a mobile testing laboratory on site in Maine this month and in useearly in the semester that will allow UMS staff and our testing partners to more quickly process our ownCOVID saliva test results from all of our universities and in much higher numbers.University of Maine System Mail - Spring COVID Testing: Higher Num... https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=483c7a7ff8&view=pt&search=all&...1 of 2 3/12/2021, 5:01 PMThanks to additional resources authorized by Governor Mills, we will be in a position to test and reportresults promptly for every member of our on-campus communities every week – a testing schedule that webelieve is critical to maximizing everyone’s safety while maintaining our academic operations through thecurrent state of the pandemic.We will be asking, requiring and counting on your continued commitment to the now familiar pandemicprotocols and testing.With all of this, I want to be very clear about several matters that I consider to be absolutes in our planningand decision-making:We will continue to respect and follow State of Maine civil emergency and public health guidance.We will closely monitor the incidence of COVID in and around our communities, as well as our owncapacity, resources, and staffing to safely manage it.We will always make the health or safety of every member of our university community, as well as thecommunities in which we teach, learn, work, research, and serve, our top priority.As always, thank you for everything you are doing to advance our mission and keep us safe and we willcontinue to share important updates in a timely fashion.Regards,Dannel MalloyChancellorCopyright © 2021 Maine's Public UniversitiesMaine's Public Universities | 5703 Alumni Hall, Orono, ME 04469-5703Unsubscribe matthew.revitt@maine.eduUpdate Profile | About our service providerSent by chancellorsoffice@maine.edu powered byTry email marketing for free today!University of Maine System Mail - Spring COVID Testing: Higher Num... https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=483c7a7ff8&view=pt&search=all&...2 of 2 3/12/2021, 5:01 PM

Chancellor Messages_Spring COVID Testing: Higher Numbers, Faster Results

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=c19_chancellor

Chancellor Messages_Spring COVID Testing: Higher Numbers, Faster Results

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