Latest Update
April 25, 2021
Preparations for Fall 2021
This is the first in a series of updates focused on preparation for the fall. Under the umbrella of Blueprint 2021, A&M-San Antonio is scaling up for summer and fall 2021. Our preparations are grounded in the safe and successful protocols implemented during the past year of our COVID-19 operating environment.
As shared in a previous campus communication (March 18, 2021), the A&M University System Board of Regents and Chancellor John Sharp have asked campuses to safely scale operations to support a return to normal operations for fall 2021, with increased face-to-face instruction and programming, as well as student support services, events and activities. Our planning and preparation over the summer will actively monitor guidance from the A&M System and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and we will continue to be flexible and responsive in developing protocols based on this guidance.
Important Dates: One of the first milestones for fall is to transition to as many in-person activities as possible beginning June 1. Human Resources will work with managers to identify specific positions aligned with the needs to best support students and campus operations. Safety will continue to be a priority, including the requirement to wear face masks.
Safety Information and Resources: As we did throughout the pandemic, we’ll provide information and resources with safety as a top priority. Here are highlights of the preparations to scale up for summer and fall:
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Wellness checkpoint stations and Public Health & Safety Assistants (PHSAs) will remain. PHSAs will continue to patrol high-traffic areas of campus to remind people of safety protocols as well as the requirement to wear face masks.
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We are continuing to deploy rigorous cleaning processes throughout campus, including classrooms.
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We are refreshing classroom occupancies and classroom and pedestrian traffic patterns.
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We are refreshing the approval process and protocols for all in-person campus events/activities and guidelines for athletics and recreational sports activities.
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We will continue to participate in A&M System meetings and feedback sessions to improve the testing and case-management processes to support a safe campus environment.
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We are refreshing campus and building signage. The digital monitors throughout campus will continue to lead with COVID-19 safety messages.
Please continue to visit the Community.Safety.Together microsite to get the latest updates, find FAQs, use the self-reporting tool, and access other helpful guidelines and resources regarding on campus and community testing sites.
Technology and Reporting: We’re continuing to invest in technologies to expand and facilitate rapid and routine health and safety information, including our Jaguar Mobile App, and by August 1 we will launch a new text-messaging system that will expand capabilities for health and safety messages.
We will continue to update the safety indicators for our campus and weekly reporting.
On the Horizon: We will continue to operate our onsite COVID-19 testing center and explore the potential for our campus to serve as a vaccination site during peak periods. We have all learned much during the pandemic about student demands and recognize that our environment has changed, and that there are still opportunities to explore in the coming months. Based on our experience over the past year, support services are being evaluated to identify best practices for adapting to and meeting student needs.
Throughout the past year, our campus has been an exemplar for consistently practicing the public health protocols that mitigated the spread of the virus while supporting our students in their academic pursuits. The cases of COVID-19 among our campus community continue to be relatively few, and transmission of the virus on campus has been minimal. To date, there have still been no known instances of COVID-19 transmission in our face-to-face classrooms. Our protocols continue to be effective, and public health conditions continue to ameliorate.
We look forward to providing you with regular updates as the work of the Blueprint 2021 task force progresses. As always, we welcome your questions and feedback.
Thank you.