August 27: Retriever Ready Action Update

Fri, 28 Aug 2020 11:18:48 -0400
covid19update

Please see the latest updates on UMBC’s Retriever Ready website. We encourage you to bookmark this site for the most current information on UMBC’s COVID-19 response, online learning this fall, and more. Questions? Please email covid19@umbc.edu.

Update on COVID-19 Testing Requirements

UMBC worked within University System of Maryland testing guidelines to connect faculty, staff, and students with COVID-19 testing options off campus in early August and on campus August 21-26. In order to provide UMBC community members approved to be on campus this fall with the greatest possible access to testing, we extended the on-campus testing period until the day before the start of the semester on August 27 and are accepting the results of off-campus tests conducted through August 26. If you are approved to be on campus and have not yet gotten a COVID-19 test, you should make arrangements to do so as soon as possible at an off-campus location.

We understand that some faculty, staff, and students who are approved to be physically present on campus and who have undergone testing very recently might not have been informed of their test results yet. If you have been tested but have not yet received your results, you may return to campus provided you follow all other health and safety requirements, including daily symptom tracking and COVID-19 health and safety training. If you have not been tested, do not physically come to campus until you have a negative test result.

Campus Access

We now have a process for faculty, staff, and students who believe they no longer need campus access during the Fall 2020 semester and would like to request removal from the access list. Please refer to UMBC’s new campus access opt-out form for details.

COVID-19 Health and Safety Measures

Testing is a point-in-time measure and just one of several important public health precautions UMBC is requiring and promoting to detect COVID-19 cases and reduce disease spread. All faculty, staff, and students who will be on campus this semester are required to perform daily symptom tracking and are expected to practice good public health behaviors on and off campus. These include limiting exposure to others, staying physically distant, wearing masks, and washing hands often.

Most important, community members who are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, who have come in contact with a person experiencing symptoms, tested positive for COVID-19, or come in contact with someone who has tested positive should not come to campus.

Residential Students: To keep you and your living unit safe, residential students are strongly encouraged to not travel off campus. If you do travel off campus, please practice good public health behaviors: wear masks, stay physically distant, wash hands often, and limit your contacts with others.

Students Commuting to Campus for In-Person Classes: To help keep our community safe, commuting students should enter only those buildings in which their in-person classes are being held. Should you need WiFi access between classes, please park in the Commons Drive or Administration garages and access the WiFi that has been installed there from your car.

COVID-19 Mandatory Training

Mandatory Training for Faculty, Staff, and Students Approved to be On Campus: All community members approved to be on campus this semester are required to complete online COVID-19 awareness training. Students are also required to complete and sign the Retriever Community Agreement. The Retriever Community Agreement also includes links to the Addendum to the Code of Student Conduct and the Addendum to the Code of Student Organization Conduct.

Online Learning Resources

As we start the new semester, students are encouraged to check out online learning and academic support resources through the Retriever Ready website.

Remote learning resources for faculty are also available.

UMBC Bookstore

The UMBC Bookstore remains closed to in-person shopping. Bookstore staff are processing and shipping online orders, and options are available for both curbside and in-store pick-up for return-to-campus orders.

UMBC Together

Visit the UMBC Together website for recent social media posts and the UMBC Together myUMBC group for a weekly event spotlight.