Vaccine news: All students, faculty and staff can sign up now to get vaccinated on campus – Still looking for an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine? Mines is offering a second on-campus vaccination clinic for faculty, staff and students later this month. LifeHealth LLC will be administering the clinic and offering the two-dose Pfizer vaccine. To receive the vaccine at the clinic, you need to be able to complete both doses on the scheduled dates – April 28 or 29 for the first dose and May 17 or 18 for the second dose. Only Mines faculty, staff and students are eligible to sign up.
Note: For those Orediggers who received their first shot at the on-campus clinic in March, you must keep your second dose appointment scheduled for April 22-23. This new clinic will administer a different vaccine (Pfizer) and cannot be combined with the vaccine given at the first clinic (Moderna).
Happy Save the CitE-Days! How Mines is keeping the festivities COVID-19 safe – E-Days is finally here, and we hope everyone has a fun (if frosty) weekend celebrating what it means to be an Oredigger – the COVID-19-safe way. The Mines Activities Council has worked closely with university leadership, Jefferson County and the City of Golden to ensure all in-person E-Days activities adhere to the very latest COVID-19 guidance and restrictions, with the Ore Cart Pull to Denver being canceled altogether.
Among the health and safety guidelines in place for the remaining in-person E-Days events:
- All events are for Mines students only. No outside guests are permitted, and students are encouraged to celebrate with their housemates or a small social pod.
- Tickets are required for all events, except for the trebuchet, mining games, cardboard boat races and fireworks. Any student under a quarantine/isolation directive had their tickets canceled and refunded automatically.
- All attendees must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken the week of April 11.
- Masks must be worn at all times unless actively eating or drinking.
- All food from food trucks will be pre-packaged and individually wrapped. All beverages will be served in single-serve bottles, with no reusable cups.
- Equipment used in games and activities will be sanitized between uses.
- Professional staff will be monitoring events for compliance with health and safety measures and to ensure masks are being worn at all times.
“We are so excited to be able to hold E-Days in person this year after last year’s last-minute switch to remote activities in the early days of the pandemic,” said Dan Fox, vice president of student life. “We have learned a great deal since April 2020, and we believe we can safely offer an in-person E-Days experience this year, with strict compliance with all state, county and campus guidelines.”
Save the CitE-Days continues through Saturday. For the full schedule – and links to event livestreams – go to minesactivitiescouncil.com/edays.
Reminder: Share your vaccination status and help Mines make informed operational decisions for Fall 2021 – Have you received all the necessary doses of a COVID-19 vaccine? If so, the Mines COVID-19 Response Initiator Team (CRIT) wants to know.
Mines community members – faculty, staff and students – who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 (two doses of Pfizer/Moderna or single dose of Johnson & Johnson) are asked to report their vaccination status to Mines via this secure and easy-to-use portal.
- Students: After submitting the form, please upload a copy of your vaccination record to the Student Health Center, via Trailhead.
- Employees: At this time, CRIT is not asking for a copy of your vaccination card. In the near future, we hope to have a secure portal to allow staff and faculty to upload an image of their vaccination card.
Providing this information will streamline contact tracing efforts and help university leadership make informed operational decisions for Fall 2021. As a reminder, our plan is a fully in-person living and learning experience with pre-pandemic classroom capacities. Widespread community vaccination is one way to ensure we can stick with that plan.
COVID-19 Dashboard Update – The Mines COVID-19 dashboard was updated today, revealing 35 active cases on campus. A total of 3,000 tests were completed last week, with a positivity rate of 1.03 percent. Additional case details are available here.
There are two active outbreaks on campus, in Alpha Tau Omega and Mines Athletics (baseball). CDPHE defines outbreaks as two or more individuals within a cohort (facility, business, non-household group) who have tested positive for COVID-19 within a 14-day period. The state’s outbreak report is updated each Wednesday at covid19.colorado.gov/covid19-outbreak-data.
NOTE: Outbreaks remain active in the state database until 28 days have passed without a positive case. That means a cohort (residence hall floor or house) could have already been released from quarantine, with no additional cases/transmission identified, but is still considered an “active” outbreak by the state. We have removed cohorts that have already been released from quarantine from this message.
Jefferson County keeps COVID-19 restrictions in place as Colorado says goodbye to statewide dial system – Earlier this week, Jefferson County issued a new public health order to guide county businesses, organizations and residents through the recovery phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and into a full reopening as the state returns control of COVID-19 restrictions to the counties. Beginning today, with the dissolution of the statewide dial, the county order lays out two phases to reopening:
- Phase 1 – Moving toward a full reopening (April 16-May 15): Businesses and individuals in Jefferson County can operate under Dial 3.0’s Level Blue capacity limits and simplified mitigation requirements for 30 days. There will be no movement during this 30-day period. Review the order for specific mitigation requirements and capacity limits for businesses and activities.
- Phase 2 – Observation period (May 16-August 15): Jefferson County, along with other counties in the Denver metro area, will move to a new level — Level Clear — which has no restrictions. In Level Clear, businesses will operate at 100 percent capacity with no mitigation requirements, although indoor mask requirements may still apply.
During the observation period, rather than focusing on incidence rates or test positivity rates, Jefferson County Public Health will closely monitor hospitalizations, a health metric indicative of severity of COVID-19 infections. It is expected that by late May, vaccination coverage should be sufficient to control COVID-19 transmission in Jeffco. However, if needed, JCPH can apply capacity limits based on hospitalization rates as described in the order.
“It’s too soon to completely abandon all COVID-19 transmission prevention measures. Jeffco residents who are not yet vaccinated are still at risk and should continue to Be COVID Smart. However, we can now chart a sound path forward combining these proven COVID-19 mitigation strategies, our own local Jeffco data and a deep knowledge of our community’s unique needs,” said Dr. Dawn Comstock, executive director of Jefferson County Public Health. “We’re confident this collaborative approach across the Denver metro area, in tandem with a unified race to get more people vaccinated, will help us avoid a fourth surge during this critical time. If we can work together and be patient just a bit longer, we may now only be about one month away from the finish line.”
Masks still required: On the Mines campus and indoors in Jefferson County – Jefferson County’s mask order, PHO 20-008, remains in effect, and all residents and visitors in Jefferson County must continue to wear a mask in indoor public spaces when 6 feet of distancing cannot be maintained from non-household members.
The Golden City Council is scheduled to vote on repealing its outdoor mask requirement ordinance at its meeting on April 20. As previously announced, Mines will change its outdoor mask policy once this ordinance is repealed.
Colorado School of Mines will maintain its COVID-19 capacity restrictions through the end of the spring semester and will communicate any changes beyond May 15 once they are finalized.