Friday, January 14, 2022

A well-fitting, high-quality mask is one key to protecting yourself and your community from transmission of the coronavirus. Whitman is providing each member of our campus community with seven N95 masks, which you can pick up in Cordiner during regularly scheduled baseline testing hours (8 a.m. to 4 p.m today and Monday through Friday the next two weeks).

 

These masks come with instructions on how to properly wear these and make sure they sit snugly in all the important places: nose, chin and cheeks. Please review these instructions carefully and practice placing your mask so that it will provide maximum protection while fitting as comfortably as possible.

 

With proper care and storage, these masks can be reworn. An easy strategy from the CDC for organizing and safely reusing your N95 (or equivalent KN95 or KF94) masks is to have seven paper bags, each labeled with a day of the week and containing one mask. After you use a mask for one day, you return it in that day’s paper bag, and therefore rotate through the seven masks over the course of a week.

Forms to Complete Today

Tomorrow is the deadline to submit documentation of two required items prior to the start of the spring semester:

• Pre-return testing: all students must take a COVID-19 test 24 to 72 hours before beginning travel to Walla Walla and complete the Spring 2022 Pre-Arrival COVID Test form by January 15, 2022.
• Provide proof of COVID-19 Booster: every eligible member of the Whitman community is required to receive the COVID-19 vaccine booster or have an approved exemption by January 15, 2022.

   

  • If you are already eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine booster (five months after your second dose of Pfizer, Moderna or another two-dose vaccine or two months after your first dose of Johnson & Johnson), you must receive the booster by January 15, 2022. Fill out the COVID-19 Vaccination Booster - Completed form after you have received the booster.

     

  • If you are not yet eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine booster (it has been less than five months since your second dose of Pfizer, Moderna or another two-dose vaccine or less than two months since your first dose of Johnson & Johnson), you must fill out the COVID-19 Vaccination Booster - Pending form by January 15, 2022, providing the date that you become eligible and attesting that you will receive the booster within one month of that date in order to maintain your campus access. 

Looking to advertise an upcoming event? Consider using the table topper option in the Reid Campus Center. To use the table toppers you will need to:
1. Print around 50 copies of 4” x 5.5” advertisements on cardstock-weight paper. (Note that this is slightly slimmer than a 1/4 page.)
2. Contact Juli Dunn (dunnjl@whitman.edu) to make arrangements to stuff the table toppers.
3. Find time to stuff them (takes about 30 minutes to stuff the full set of table toppers spread through the building).

This is a great advertising option for events with a specific day and time as the table toppers will be refreshed regularly.

Some campus business and administrative offices will be closed Monday, Jan. 17, in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Regular business hours will resume Tuesday, Jan. 18, which is also the first day of school.

 

Baseline COVID-19 testing will be open on Monday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Cordiner.

In accordance with Washington state Labor & Industries employer requirements, we are notifying the campus community that in the past 24 hours, six people with Whitman access were confirmed positive for COVID-19. These people are now in isolation for 10 days in accordance with our campus and CDC guidelines. Though the likelihood of transmission is low due to our campus COVID-19 protocols, it is possible that others may have been exposed to COVID-19. There is nothing you need to do at this time aside from following our campus COVID-19 protocols. Anyone identified through the contact tracing process as a close contact (within 6 ft. for at least 15 minutes over 24 hours) will be personally notified. 

TODAY

SATURDAY

Have an event you'd like to share with campus? Submit the information to the Events Calendar.

“Whitman Today” is produced by the Office of Communications and is emailed Monday through Friday to Whitman College staff, faculty and students. All times are listed in Pacific Daylight Time. 

 

Submissions are welcome! If you have a professional or personal accomplishment to celebrate, an event to publicize or other content to share with the Whitman community, email whitmantoday@whitman.edu. Submissions should be 125 words or less. The deadline for submissions is noon for the following day's newsletter, though submissions may be held for a later date according to space and editorial needs. By submitting to Whitman Today you also authorize use on Whitman's social media unless otherwise specified.

 

Previous issues of Whitman Today are archived on our website.