Hey everyone! Here is my updated COVID-19 policy for Spring 2022.

I will neither be teaching nor appearing in groups on campus in Spring 2022, and here is why:

I. COVID-19 is an infectious disease that may or may not express symptoms. Prudence suggests that a person MUST consider every other person as potentially infectious. I will thus be wearing a mask while indoors, regardless of my own or others’ vaccination status.

II. COVID-19 expresses symptoms on a wide spectrum from mild or no symptoms to respiratory failure and death. Some folks have experienced very few respiratory symptoms but experienced other effects like strokes, heart attacks, and chronic damage to the hearts and lungs, among other organ systems. COVID-19 is a disease I intend to avoid at all reasonable cost.

III. I am reasonably healthy. Although I am healthy, I have good reason to be protective of family members who have respiratory issues, and other chronic illnesses that make them susceptible to COVID’s effects. My personal health is important to me. My family’s health is yet more important. I will do nothing to potentially endanger them. Aside from my concerns, I must also consider the desires of my students who likewise value their lives and those of their families.

IV. I am fully prepared and capable of teaching at a distance. All of my courses are designed to be offered 100% online. All of my courses scheduled to be taught in a traditional way have recorded lectures, and all of their materials are available through the University’s online course management system (Blackboard). I am able to continue my work as normal, even though I am not physically present on campus.

V. Experiences since Spring 2020 have shown that virtually all meetings can be held as video conferences. Video conferencing removes the need for folks to physically attend department, College, and broader University meetings. As such, unless expressly requested, I will prefer to attend meetings through the virtual interface.

VI. The University has a vaccination requirement against COVID-19, unless one has a religious exemption. That exemption is between you and the University. In keeping with statement I above, I will assume that everyone is both vaccinated AND potentially infectious, and I will wear my mask indoors when not in my own office area.

Therefore, given:

  1. the increasingly infectious profile of COVID-19
  2. the brutal consequences of fully expressing symptoms, and as-yet-unknown downstream effects of being merely infected
  3. the potential for infecting family and loved ones, based on exposure with hundreds of folks who have unknown vaccination status, and with unknowable infection status
  4. my ability and capability to teach my courses’ contents as online courses
  5. the lack of need to physically come to campus, due to the proven use of video conferences to host meetings
  6. the experience of other regions, when resuming “normal life” too soon

in Spring 2022, I will continue to satisfy my teaching and other work obligations from my home, through the use of video conferencing and other teleworking technologies.

Despite an effective vaccine rolling out broadly, I am not preparing for potential campus-based activities starting with Spring 2022. I will comply with specific requests to attend meetings on campus. I will mask and distance until CDC guidelines suggest these measures are no longer needed.

Updated: 2022-01-04