Be safe this New Year's Eve and return healthy

Posted: December 31, 2021

Happy New Year, Gannon family.

We hope you’ve had a healthy and pleasant Christmas winter break.

We know there has been a lot of news of the continued challenges regarding COVID transmission and the Omicron variant these past couple of weeks. Some have reported into the health center that you have tested positive or are a close contact while away and have had questions about what to do next. Thank you for reaching out and we hope you are feeling well. 

We wanted to send a message welcoming you back to campus, as well as share some thoughts and information. First, happy New Year’s Eve. We encourage you to ring in the New Year and to do so in a safe setting. Crowded venues and gatherings have been a source of spread over the past few weeks, based on what’s been reported to us and in the news. 

Here are a few other reminders to help you as you prepare to return to school late next week or to work a little earlier:

• We will be face-to-face for the spring semester in Erie and in Ruskin. Classes resume on Jan. 10.

• If you need a reminder about our protocols, please see this message from earlier in December.

• If you are not required but would like a test, reach out to testappt@gannon.edu to schedule a time. Our testing center has been on limited hours over break, so availability has been reduced. However, many have reached out and been assisted.

• On-boarding testing for unvaccinated employees is Jan. 3-7. Testing for all unvaccinated returning students (on and off-campus) is Jan. 8.

• If you are having symptoms of COVID-19 or other illness, please do not come to campus. Do not move back in, do not come to the office.Report your symptoms and await instructions from the Health Center before returning.

• Report your symptoms or exposure through LiveSafe. If you are unfamiliar with LiveSafe, learn more about it here. Reporting through LiveSafe is the most efficient way to get through to one of our nurses in the Health Center. They will discuss your symptoms or exposure and can help get you in for COVID-19 testing if they think it is necessary. 

• If you tested positive for COVID-19 over the break, please report it to the Health Center via LiveSafe AND send a copy of your positive test result to hlthcoun@gannon.edu.

• Given the prevalence of the Omicron variant, we encourage you to get tested where you are before returning to campus if you have any concerns about exposure for the sake of your health and the health of your classmates or colleagues on campus.

• If you are vaccinated, we strongly ask you to consider getting a booster. Boosters are readily available and have been proven to increase protections against COVID-19 and the new variant.

• If you are not yet vaccinated, we urge you to do so as we enter the new year and new semester. This is a safe and the most effective way for you to protect yourself and for our entire community in staying safe and healthy together. 

• If you have a question or a comment, you can submit it at https://www.gannon.edu/Questions-or-Comments/.

Finally, we are aware of the new CDC guidelines regarding isolation and quarantine, and we are assessing how those might affect our protocols. At this point, we are maintaining the protocols and requirements we have been following this academic year. Stay tuned. As has been the case since March 2020, the approaches to mitigating this pandemic are always changing.

For now, we wish you the best, we also wish you a happy and healthy New Year, and we look forward to seeing you on campus soon.