Goddard College Coronavirus Update

April 13, 2022 Update

Goddard College Covid 19 Mitigation Guidelines for Student

Goddard College remains committed to the health and safety of its students and employees. Prevention of illness and the spread of viruses is our top priority.

Goddard College is guided by science, and the research tells us that vaccination of the vast majority of our community will provide the best possible protection against COVID-19. This is critical for communities like ours, where we share living, dining, and learning spaces.

Therefore, all Goddard College students who will be on any campus at any time are required to be up to date on their CoVid 19 vaccination (or have an approved medical exemption on file). We continue to closely monitor developments of the pandemic and follow the guidance of the Center for Disease Control, the Vermont Department of Health, and Washington State Department of Health. The College will follow Vermont and Washington state mandates regarding institutions of higher education when they differ from CDC guidance. We will keep this information updated if/as circumstances change. Please visit this page often, especially as you near your arrival on campus.

Goddard College provides a virtual option for all of its residencies. Individuals who are at higher risk of severe illness, and those who are not fully vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19), should seriously consider using this option as you prepare for their residency.

In order for us all to be safe, and for all of us to feel safe, there are essential health and safety measures that each member of our community has the responsibility to follow to protect their own health and that of their colleagues. The information below is meant to help members of this community make appropriate decisions.

If you have questions about Goddard College’s COVID risk mitigation strategy, contact the Student Services Office.

Goddard College’s Vaccination Policy

As mentioned, all students on all Goddard College campuses, must be up to date on their CoVid 19 vaccination prior to arrival, unless you have an approved medical exemption. Students will be asked to share proof of vaccination or have received an approved exemption BEFORE you arrive on campus.

In addition, it is also strongly recommended that students, faculty, and staff get a flu shot.

Masking

Masking practices will follow the mandates of the local jurisdiction. Review the Vermont Department of Health and Plainfield Select Board’s pages for updates on our Vermont campus. Review the City of Seattle, City of Tacoma, or Port Townsend pages depending on your destination. In addition to the foregoing, if a governing authority does not otherwise mandate it, during on-campus student residencies masking will be required of students, and those faculty and staff directly engaged in in-person student activities.

Testing

Students who are not up to date on their CoVid 19 vaccination and have an approved exemption, or travel to campus from outside the United States,* are required to be tested three or four days after their arrival on campus. Goddard College will provide rapid antigen test kits to these students; a PCR test follow-up will be required if the rapid test is negative and symptoms are present.
Students should come prepared with rapid antigen tests kits or Student Services will assist in acquiring one from a local pharmacy. It is recommended that students get tested (once again), three to five days after completing their residency and/or arriving home.

The CDC explains the types of testing available and recommended here. PCR tests are available at nearby pharmacies, and Student Services can support your access to testing.

*If you are traveling internationally, review the CDC for all international air or land travel Symptoms & Exposure, Isolation & Quarantine

If you have been exposed in the last ten days to someone who you know or believe has COVID-19, please do not come to campus. Contact Student Services to arrange for virtual participation.

COVID-19 affects different people in different ways; infected people have reported a wide range of symptoms—from mild to severe.

Watch for:

Fever or chills
Cough
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Fatigue
Muscle or body aches
Headache
New loss of taste or smell
Sore throat
Congestion or runny nose
Nausea or vomiting
Diarrhea

Symptoms may appear 2 to 14 days after exposure to the virus, and one can be contagious anytime between 2 days before and 10 days after the day symptoms present.

If someone is showing or experiencing any of the following severe symptoms, seek emergency medical care immediately:

Trouble breathing
Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
New confusion
Inability to wake or stay awake
Pale, gray, or blue-colored skin, lips, or nail beds, depending on skin tone

If you are experiencing ANY symptoms that might be COVID-related, regardless of your vaccination status:

Contact Student Services and isolate immediately.
Take a rapid antigen test . If negative, remain isolated until you can repeat the test 36 hours later and receive a second negative result.
If positive, continue isolating, contact your healthcare provider(s), and respond to contact tracing efforts.

Isolation is required for people who are experiencing symptoms, test positive for COVID-19, or are diagnosed with COVID-19, and need to be separated from others to avoid infecting them. Students who test positive and need a safe place to isolate on Vermont’s campus may be moved temporarily to Pratt dorm.

End isolation only when 1) five days have passed since the day symptoms began, AND 2) you have a negative result on a rapid antigen test. AND 3) are asymptomatic or your symptoms are resolving (without fever for 24 hours).

Quarantine is a way for individuals who may have been exposed to COVID-19—through close contact with an infected person—to limit their contact with others while it is determined whether they have COVID-19.

If you have had possible exposure to COVID-19:

Contact Student Services.
You must follow with at least ten days of. strict mask-wearing,
For all those exposed, best practice would also include getting a PCR test on day five.
If symptoms occur, you should immediately quarantine until a negative test confirms symptoms are not attributable to Covid-19.

Goddard staff are committed to your health and safety, and to ensuring you maximize your learning experience even if you are unwell, isolating, or in quarantine. The Student Services office will help access tests and testing sites, arrange isolation or quarantine as needed, arrange virtual access to your residency, provide personal check-ins, and offer general support. While we can provide free rapid antigen test kits to students in need, we are unable to provide transportation to PCR testing sites for unvaccinated students.

Following state Health Department recommendations, we encourage you to keep six feet between yourself and others, indoors and outdoors, especially if you are not fully vaccinated and/or are at greater risk for severe symptoms.

Masking will not be required outdoors or when individuals are alone or are in enclosed areas where appropriate social distancing can be maintained.

Masks/face coverings must completely cover the nose and mouth and fit securely and snugly against all sides of the face. Please follow CDC guidelines for appropriate masks/face coverings.

Medical/surgical masks will be available in all meeting rooms on campus but/and, regardless of your vaccination status, students should bring masks/face coverings to campus and have at least one on your person at all times.

Even in situations where face coverings are not mandatory, Goddard continues to be a mask-friendly campus: many members of our community will choose to wear face coverings even if not required to, and if so, individuals are supported in their decisions.

Hand hygiene and sanitizing

Students should frequently and thoroughly wash their hands with soap and warm water for at least twenty seconds, especially when entering a new area, after being in a public place, or after blowing their nose, coughing, sneezing, or touching their face.

If soap and water are not available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol. Hand sanitizer will be available inside the entrances to campus buildings, in classrooms, and event spaces.

Contact Tracing

If a student tests positive for COVID-19, contact tracing (and isolation procedures) will be activated. A Goddard College staff member and/or the Department of Health will reach out—confidentially—to that person to gather information about who they have been in close contact with during the time when they may have been infectious and able to transmit the virus.

Close contact means physical presence within 6 feet, for a total of 15 minutes or more, over a 24-hour period, while one was contagious.

This confidential outreach then turns to those close contacts to provide them with information and resources to quarantine. To protect privacy, contacts are informed only that they may have been exposed to someone with the infection. They are not told the identity of the infected person.

Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 are encouraged to protect their privacy and carefully consider to whom they disclose this information.

More information about what to do if you have close contact with someone with COVID-19: (Vermont) (Washington)

Contacts-of-contacts are not considered at risk for developing illness and are not required to quarantine—unless they are in direct contact with someone who tests positive.