May 29, 2020
Based on the Governor’s Addendum 16 to Executive Order 01-20, the college continues to encourage working from home for its employees. Anyone who visits campus must be screened by the resident health officer, per VOSHA regulations. College staff continue to work closely with Vermont’s Commissioner of Health on a statewide higher education collaboration to develop common guidelines for reopening facilities in the fall. Vermont Tech’s intentions to resume in-person activities in the fall remain in place as we await confirmation by state health officials and a corresponding gubernatorial directive.
In addition, Vermont Tech received helpful reminders of current guidance from the Department of Health:
Wash your hands, cover your coughs and sneezes, and watch for symptoms.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water and carry hand sanitizer with you when soap and water may not be available.
- Don’t touch your eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands.
- Cough and sneeze into your elbow or into a tissue that you throw away.
- Avoid close contact (being within 6 feet for a long period of time) with people who are sick.
- Call Bob Sivret if you have any COVID-19 symptoms, even if they are very mild. Symptoms can look different from person to person, and include:
- Fever
- Cough
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Chills
- Repeated shaking with chills
- Muscle pain
- Headache
- Sore throat
- New loss of taste or smell
Know the rules about quarantine.
- If you have come from another state or country, you are required to quarantine for 14 days as soon as you arrive. This guidance might change, so make sure to check the Health Department’s website for the most current quarantine requirements.
- If you have had close contact with someone who has COVID-19 symptoms or who has tested positive for COVID-19, you must quarantine for 14 days from your last contact with that person.
- Quarantine means you need to:
- Stay home until 14 days after your last contact with someone who had COVID-19, or from your arrival in Vermont.
- Stay 6 feet away from others at all times, including roommates.
- Monitor for symptoms of COVID-19.
- You can end your quarantine early by testing negative on or after day 7 of your quarantine, if you have not had any symptoms the entire time you have been quarantining. You have to stay in quarantine until you get your test results.
- When you are in quarantine, your roommates can go to work or school, but they’ll need to be the ones who pick up groceries and prescriptions and help take care of other things while you’re staying at home. You can also check out some of the delivery services and restaurants that provide contactless delivery in your area.
- Register for Sara Alert to get symptom check reminders and have a quick and easy way to contact the Health Department.
- If you or anyone else in your house or apartment starts showing symptoms of COVID-19 reach out to Bob Sivret or your personal medical provider right away to see about getting tested.
Mask up and connect from a distance.
- Wear a cloth mask or face covering when you’re out in public and can’t stay 6 feet away from others. Masks protect the people around you in case you are sick and may not know it.
- Vermont businesses may require customers to wear masks, so make sure you always have one with you, or you might be waiting outside.
- Check out Health Department guidance on the use of cloth face coverings to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
