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A Message about Quarantine, Testing, Contact Tracing, and Support for International Students

A COVID-19 Update
This week Bard’s COVID-19 Response Team has worked closely with our partners at Nuvance Health to further define protocols for health and safety on campus, particularly in the dormitories and classrooms. Nuvance is conducting multiple site visits, meeting with faculty and staff to advise on applying best practices in classrooms and alternative teaching spaces, including cleaning protocols and ventilation recommendations. 

Working with Nuvance in this process has reinforced that personal behavior is the key to supporting health and safety in our community: wearing masks, practicing physical distancing, and washing hands frequently are still the basis for maintaining a safe campus. This conclusion is supported by the fact that New York State, where mask wearing has been required for several months, has one of the lowest rates of COVID transmission in the country. 

As we move forward to the fall semester, our individual commitment to the health and safety of our community both on and off campus must include a personal dedication to adhering to recommended personal behaviors. We will repeatedly remind each of you to follow through with these simple yet demonstrably effective measures. Together with testing, screening, and our sanitization protocols, these personal behaviors make it possible for the college to safely reopen this fall. In future updates we will share more about the incentive and accountability measures we are developing to ensure members of our community are complying with these protocols.

Bard is in good company with a large number of colleges and universities as we move towards reopening. Our neighbors at Marist, Vassar, Union, Skidmore, Hamilton, and many other institutions in New York and across the region are taking a similar approach in coordinating closely with local officials and public health experts to develop policies to return to campus as safely as possible. 

Quarantine and Testing Requirements

In our previous update, we announced a requirement that all students—no matter where they are located—get a COVID test within five days of traveling to Bard. Positive antibody testing is not considered a negative COVID test result and can not be submitted in place of a negative test result. We will soon provide detailed instructions about how to submit test results. Between the time of the test and arriving on campus, it is important that students adhere to safe behaviors: no large gatherings, wear a mask, and practice physical distancing. In addition, as recommended by our partners at Nuvance, the college will test all students within the first five days of their arrival on campus. 

Three populations of students will have to be quarantined upon arrival to the area, as noted below. Any on-campus student who is able to independently complete their required quarantine before arriving on campus should plan to do so. 
  • Students traveling from restricted locations. As noted previously, New York State is requiring anyone entering the state from abroad or from states with significant community spread of COVID-19 to quarantine for 14 days. The list of restricted states changes daily, so please check to see if your state is listed before planning to travel. New York State regulations require the full 14 days of quarantine for those traveling from restricted locations, even if a student receives a negative COVID test result while in quarantine. 
  • Students unable to get tested before traveling to Bard. The College will provide tests to these students as soon as they arrive. They will be required to quarantine until they receive a negative test result. If they originally traveled from a non-restricted location, they will be released from quarantine upon receiving a negative test result.
  • Students who get tested before traveling to Bard, but do not receive their test result in time to travel to Bard. They will be required to quarantine until receiving their test result. If they originally traveled from a non-restricted location, they will be released from quarantine upon receiving a negative test result.
In consultation with Nuvance, we are setting aside appropriate spaces on campus for quarantine and self-isolation as needed. We are also making arrangements with off-site locations to ensure we have adequate spaces for all arriving students who will need to quarantine. Students living on campus will quarantine in one of the spaces Bard is arranging. Students living off campus will need to quarantine off campus. We will be in close contact with all students about specific plans and requirements. 

As a reminder, returning students who are living on campus should fill out the move-in and arrival form HERE as soon as possible. There is a place on the form where you can outline your off-campus quarantine plan, if you are planning to independently complete your quarantine before arriving on campus.

Off-campus students should fill out the arrival form HERE as soon as possible to provide us with their addresses and arrival information. The college will provide detailed instructions to all students who will need to quarantine as we finalize our plans. 

This week, New York State government established a requirement for all travelers from restricted states to fill out and submit the New York State Traveler Health Form upon arriving in the state. This form is only accessible to and for use by state government authorities; it is not connected to Bard. We ask that you abide by all state requirements when traveling to or in New York. For more information about New York State’s approach to reopening, please check the New York Forward website.  

Screening and Contact Tracing

All students, living on campus and off, will be required to complete a daily health screening, just as all employees do every day they come to campus. Our partners at Involvio, with whom we were already working on student engagement activities, have developed a Safe Reopen app, which enables students to complete their screening online. All students will have to show that they have completed the screening and received a ‘pass’ before entering campus facilities including classrooms and the dining commons. We will provide more details in future updates. 

The college has also established a contact tracing team to supplement the efforts of the Dutchess County health department. All members of this team have taken online training developed by Johns Hopkins University. Bard’s contact tracers, in close coordination with county health officials, will follow up with anyone who tests positive or believes they have been exposed to COVID. This work mainly consists of time-sensitive phone calls. Any Bard employee interested in taking the Johns Hopkins training and joining the contact tracing team is encouraged to contact David Lindholm at [email protected] for further information.

International Student Support

Many of our international students will be unable to attend classes in person in Annandale in the fall, due to travel restrictions and challenges obtaining visas. We have been working hard to develop options for these students to continue with their Bard education from their overseas locations. For students in Europe who are able to travel to Berlin, we are offering places at Bard College Berlin. For students in China, we are finalizing options with some Chinese universities so that students can take a mix of online courses through Bard and in-person courses on site in China. Through the Bard network and the Open Society University Network, we have partner institutions on five continents, and will work individually with each student on a plan that preserves their visa status and gives them the best possible access to the Bard experience. We hope to welcome all international students back to Annandale as soon circumstances allow. We are closely monitoring current travel restrictions to the United States, and advise students to check the website of the U.S. Consulate in their home countries for updates on exceptions for student travel to the United States. In the meantime, we will strive to keep all of our students connected around the world. Students and families with questions should contact International Student Adviser Manishka Kalupahana ([email protected] or 845-758-7328) or Dean of International Studies Jennifer Murray ([email protected] or 845-758-6822 x7387).

We were pleased to learn that, in response to the Harvard/MIT lawsuit, which Bard joined via an amicus brief, the Trump Administration has rescinded the punitive ICE guidelines for international students.
 
We appreciate your patience and participation as we finalize our plans for a safe and engaging return to campus. We will continue to offer updates on a regular basis. Please check our COVID-19 website for more information and FAQs, and please feel free to ask questions.
 
For individual questions please contact the following directly: For general questions please contact [email protected].
 
Sincerely,
 
Bard College COVID-19 Response Team
[email protected]
 
Coleen Alexander Murphy, Vice President for Administration
Kimberly Alexander, Director, Human Resources
Jonathan Becker, Executive Vice President and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Barbara Jean Briskey, Director, Health Services
Erin Cannan, Vice President Student Affairs/Dean for Civic Engagement
Deirdre d'Albertis, Dean of the College
Malia Du Mont, Chief of Staff, President's Office/Vice President for Strategy and Policy
Brooke Jude, Associate Professor of Biology
John Gomez, Director, Safety and Security
Emily McLaughlin, Associate Dean of the College
Jennifer Murray, Dean of International Studies
Bethany Nohlgren, Dean of Students
Kahan Sablo, Dean for Inclusive Excellence
Éric Trudel, Chair, Faculty Senate
 

For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].

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