PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS CURRENT STUDENTS FACULTY/STAFF ALUMNI COMMUNITY                                    

September 25, 2020 | CRT Email

September 30, 2020

Dear RVU Family, 

This week’s email is unfortunately not as cheery as previous ones. COVID-19 cases are rising in many states (especially UT) and it has once again made its way into our campus. The good news is that our Contact Tracing Team contained it quickly and prevented its spread so far. The bad news is that many students were forced to miss required labs due to exposure. During our investigation into this incident, we found that many RVU people are not wearing masks and social distancing appropriately when off-campus. We appreciate the honesty because these facts influence our medical officers’ decision-making process. However, we are very concerned of the risks to our RVU community due to this lack of cautiousness and lack of compliance to CRT and CDC recommendations. It was also noticed that many are not washing or sanitizing your hands as thoroughly or frequently enough while on campus, particularly during labs.  

 

Updates and reminders for this week include:  

  • Clinical Externship Rotations Jeopardy. Miller, Associate Dean of Clinical Education, reported that he recently had a phone meeting with several hospital leaders of our major training partners in our clinical network. In that meeting it was disclosed that many hospital sites are exceeding ICU occupancy warning thresholds and they are beginning to recess medical students from clinical rotations. However, RVUCOM has earned the privilege to continue because our medical students have consistently shown low rates of COVID-19 infections based on the weekly data we share with them. (Great news!) Therefore, please note that everyone’s actions on campus and off can impact our global student transmission rates that could jeopardize our clinical year students’ training opportunities.

 

Holiday Travel Recommendations. If you plan to travel in multi-passenger vehicles (planes, busses, boats), please follow these CDC travel recommendations. There are no additional CRT or state specific post-travel requirements. The only other CRT recommendation is to consider such travel to any country, state, or city as high-risk.

 

MYTH: Quarantine and Isolation are the same thing.

  • Fact: Quarantine separates the movement and physical interaction of people who were exposed to a contagious disease to monitor if they become sick. Isolation separates sick people who are infected with a contagious disease so they don’t spread to others who are not infected. 
  • Influenza vaccination. Immunizations are the greatest discovery in the history of medicine and has saved more lives than any drugs or surgeries. So please be smart and get your flu shot! This will also prevent increasing numbers of positive Screening and Attestation Forms.

 Let’s re-commit to vigilance and continue to keep RVU safe and strong. Please enjoy the weekend and thank you all for your important part in our team of teams.  

Professionally yours, 

COVID-19 Response Team