March 10, 2020
As many of you are aware, on March 7, 2020, Vermont Department of Health (VT DOH) officials announced the first case of novel coronavirus COVID-19 in Vermont, an individual in Bennington County. There are also cases in Lebanon, New Hampshire. The Incident Response Team met again this week on Monday, March 9 to review our actions to date, discussion future planning, and make decisions about operations.
As of now, the college is postponing all college-sponsored international travel planned for this semester until further notice. College-sponsored domestic travel must be evaluated frequently. Please contact the Academic Dean’s office if you are a faculty member planning a domestic trip. Students should contact the Dean of Student Affairs about any club’s travel plans.
On March 4, the VT DOH issued an advisory, following the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that travelers returning from China, Italy, South Korea, and Iran should stay home and monitor their health for 14 days after returning to the United States. Travelers returning from Japan should monitor their health for 14 days after returning to the United States. The VT DOH requests that all who have traveled to areas where there have been COVID-19 outbreaks contact the VT DOH directly and closely monitor themselves for fever and other symptoms. They can be reached at (802) 863-7240. Their website is updated daily at 1pm.
Vermont Tech is requesting that anyone traveling from any international or US areas affected by COVID-19 to report their travel also to Bob Sirvet, Health Services Coordinator for the college.
We would like to remind people about the symptoms to watch for that present with the COVID-19 illness from the CDC website. The following symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure:
- Fever
- Cough
- Shortness of breath
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms and have been to a place with known cases or have come in contact with someone who may have been infected, please contact your primary care physician for guidance and care.
