Clarification of COVID policies and compliance

To undergraduate students,

Welcome to Wake Forest to all first-year students, and welcome home to our sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Your presence in the community has brought our campus to life again, and we are all very happy you are here. I recognize you have arrived on campus in a world that is vastly different than last fall, and all the fall semesters that came before. The global pandemic has changed life as we knew it to be. And though we long for “normalcy,” there is a new “normal” we must accept in order to stay at Wake Forest, stay healthy, and protect vulnerable people on campus and in your families. 

You will have seen a message from President Hatch about the stakes being high for this semester. I write you now to clarify some of our COVID policies and compliance measures that will help us have a safe semester and campus experience that we all want to last until Thanksgiving. 

What Do I Need to Do COVID-wise?

We want to be sure you know in practical terms what we need you to do. We all know by now that protecting ourselves and others from COVID requires masking, physical distancing, handwashing, and good sneeze/cough etiquette. Here are the things in greater detail that we ask of all students (and faculty and staff too):

If indoors, wear a mask. The exceptions would be in your residence hall room (alone) or if you are showering or eating. You are expected to wear a mask when leaving your room and when in any campus building. It is that simple.

If outdoors, wear a mask if you are in a group of people and/or cannot maintain six feet of distance between you and the next person. Pro tip: much of the time when you are just walking around campus, you might not know when you are going to run into other people and want to talk to them, so it is highly recommended to wear your mask when walking around campus.

If outdoors and you are in a group activity that involves elevated breathing (e.g., “Spikeball”, soccer, etc.), both masks and 10 feet of distance are required.

Whether indoors or outdoors, always maintain six feet of distance between you and another person.

The simplest rule to go by is to wear a mask all the time. We know this isn’t ideal. All of us wish we did not have to observe this rule. But in this global pandemic, wearing a mask is a necessity whenever you might have contact with others. Consider it a part of an outfit you wear every day, like shoes or pants. And maintain six feet of distance from other people all the time, both outdoors and indoors. Wash your hands frequently and for 20 seconds or more (or use hand sanitizer) and cover coughs and sneezes. You are also expected to  monitor and report symptoms with SneezSafe every day (including weekends).

What If Other People Are Not Doing These Things?

Some students have expressed concern that other students have not been wearing masks and/or were standing too close to each other. They have asked ‘who is responsible for telling students not to do that?’ We take non-compliance with public health measures seriously and have a variety of ways to report non-compliance:

Students, faculty, staff (and even families) can report public health incidents here: wakefo.rest/compliance. If you see something, say something. Reporting allows us to appropriately respond to violations of University COVID-19 policies. You do not have to give your name.

There is also the Live Safe app, the safety tool that students are encouraged to download. Live Safe allows live chat with police dispatch and has the ability to send pictures and video. 

It is critical for everyone to understand that public health compliance is not someone else’s job. It is ALL of our jobs. If you see something that goes against COVID policies, we need you to say something and not expect that someone else will do it for you. 

I know that for some students, reminding other members of our community to put on a mask or maintain social distance might feel uncomfortable and feel like you are “mask shaming.” The large majority of the time, it is simply about reminding one another about the practice of face covering and social distancing with compassion. That’s something we all can do. This is the time for leadership, role modeling, and encouraging others to be smart and safe. As a backstop, we do have the wakefo.rest/compliance report formand Live Safe app as options. But, we hope students will also consider simply talking to their friends, hallmates, and classmates and say “We are all supposed to have a mask on” or “We should not be this close together,” etc. 

What’s the Bottom Line?

We need every student’s help to ensure that our community members are not acting in a way that could endanger our ability to have a successful semester. We must be sure we don’t negatively impact the health of our front-line staff, faculty, and students, and we don’t want to close campus and go home. If we all work together, we can meet our goal of having a successful semester on campus.

Thank you for doing your part for the good of our whole community.

Sincerely,

Adam Goldstein, Ph.D.
Assistant Vice President and Dean of Students