“At the end of the day, the patients’
safety has to come first, and we can’t
risk exposing them to COVID-19 when
there’s no actual screening process
for the students,” Hubscher said.
“Unfortunately, we’re going to have
to finish up our clinical experiences
online, but it’s what’s best in a situation
like this which is unprecedented.”
In a separate notice directed to
juniors sent out on the same day, Hurn
said their on-site clinicals would also
be suspended as of 7 p.m. Juniors will
now have virtual clinical experiences
for the remainder of the term and are
expected to hold the last two and a half
weeks in August for boot camp and
deferred clinical experiences.
In an email to The Daily, University
spokesman Rick Fitzgerald noted
students’ safety is of the utmost
importance to the University, adding
that alternative options are being
developed to prepare students for new
challenges they may face in clinical
settings.
Previously,
sophomore
clinical
rotations were canceled on Sunday
in light of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Nursing juniors and seniors were sent
a separate email on Sunday from Dana
Tschannen, incoming associate dean
for undergraduate studies at the School
of Nursing, explaining why sophomore
clinical rotations were canceled as well
as offering future plans for junior and
senior clinicals.
The email said the School of Nursing
believed sophomores would be able to
meet requirements set by the Michigan
Board of Nursing and accredited bodies
though a virtual format.
Nursing
sophomore
Samantha
Toomey said she does not believe
having online clinical rotations will put
her behind.
“We’re still going to have the
clinicals next year and the year after,”
Toomey said. “This semester, we’re
kind of just getting started, and we
didn’t have a ton of responsibilities.
Since we’re sophomores, we still have a
lot of time to catch up and we have a lot
more hours ahead of us.”
Toomey said she recognized the
current situation is not ideal, however,
she said she believes this change
was essential to limit COVID-19
transmissions.
“I think it’s a better learning
experience to be in-person, but given
the current situation, there are other
things that are more important than
getting our curriculum fulfilled,”
Toomey said. “I feel like the health
of the patient and student are more
important than sticking to curriculum
hours.”
At the time of the Sunday email,
juniors had recently had their first
clinical rotations of the year, and the
email strongly encouraged them to
keep attending current rotations.
Seniors
in
nursing
have
two
tracks they can choose to complete:
Leadership
and
Management/
Community
or
Complex
Care.
Regarding
the
Leadership
and
Management/Community track, the
email noted some community clinicals
had already closed. For those that had
not, the email said to continue going.
For seniors in Complex Care, the email
urged seniors to add an extra shift
while they were looking at alternative
options.
Hubscher said a lot of students were
trying to fit in as many hours as they
could to finish their requirements as
soon as possible.
“One of my cohort (members) had
considered doing 16-hour shifts at
the hospital to get her hours done,”
Hubscher said. “In the past, the most
we’ve done is 12 hours.”
Nursing senior Joanna Yeh is on
the Leadership and Management/
Community track and said her clinical
instructor canceled her community
clinical before the announcement
today.
“My community clinicals were
supposed to be at a retirement home,”
Yeh said. “That’s probably not the
best idea for us. A lot of us work at the
hospital, and we’re going in and out of
the hospital. It’s not a good idea for us
to go into a retirement home for people
who are literally the most vulnerable
population.”
Yeh said she was not worried about
graduating because she believed her
instructor was doing everything in her
power to provide support to students.
“My clinical instructor has made
it very clear that she’s going to make
sure we will graduate no matter
what happens,” Yeh said. “She’s gone
through all these different modules
in order to make up for the hours that
we’re missing from being in person.”
Many Nursing students told The
Daily they felt stressed and confused
as they were not certain what would
happen to clinical rotations and
classes moving forward as the
COVID-19 situation develops.
Yeh
said
she
was
anxious
when the University first began
responding to COVID-19 because
of the uncertainty. However, she
said she understands this is a
developing situation and is grateful
to the School of Nursing for
providing frequent updates.
“The
School
of
Nursing
is
honestly doing a pretty good job
with keeping us updated,” Yeh said.
“Things are changing every second,
they’ve been sending us so many
different emails with the changes.
They’re keeping us updated to the
best of their ability and I can’t be
mad at that. I know it must be hard
to be on both sides.”
Reporter Francesca Duong can be
reached at fduong@umich.edu.
In
the
press
conference,
Whitmer said the state is making
decisions based on the best science
to slow the spread of the virus.
“Our administration and our
partners and state government are
working around the clock, working
to slow the spread of coronavirus,”
Whitmer said. “Michiganders are
some of the most resilient people
in the nation, and we have faced
and overcome serious challenges
before … We’ve gotten through
these times together, and we will
get through this as well.”
On Thursday, Whitmer ordered
a shutdown of all K-12 schools in
the state until April 5 and banned
all events with more than 250
attendees on Friday. The governor
also issued an executive order on
Monday to close all restaurants,
bars and entertainment venues in
Michigan to attempt to slow the
spread of the virus.
Whitmer
emphasized
the
actions she has taken within the
past week in response to COVID-
19 are temporary. She said all
Michigan citizens have a role to
play to mitigate spreading the virus
and its impact on our economy.
“These are tough and necessary
steps that we are taking to ensure
that we reduce the spread of this
virus,” Whitmer said. “We know
that by taking aggressive action,
we are saving lives.”
Whitmer
encouraged
Michigan
citizens
to
practice
social distancing and to take
precautionary measures to reduce
the spread of the virus. The Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention
recommend people wash their
hands often with soap and water
for 20 seconds, avoid close contact
with other people and stay home if
they feel sick.
Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical
executive of Michigan Department
of Health and Human Services
(MDHHS), emphasized protecting
those most at risk, including the
elderly and immunocompromised.
She said state labs in Michigan
have a goal of testing 200 patients
for COVID-19 a day, which they
plan to be able to accommodate for
by the end of the week.
“This is a very serious situation,”
Khaldun said. “As the situation
continues to develop, we expect
more cases, and unfortunately, we
expect more fatalities.”
Khaldun said the MDHHS sent
500 tests to medical providers
across the state throughout the
past week. She said the state is
working on getting comprehensive
data from hospitals on resources.
As of Wednesday, there have
been 80 confirmed COVID-19
cases in Michigan with seven of
the cases in Washtenaw County.
Two cases of the virus have been
confirmed in student apartment
buildings Vic Village-North and
ArborBLU.
The University of Michigan
began the shift to online classes on
Monday for the remainder of the
semester in response to COVID-
19. The University also canceled
commencement
and
all
study
abroad programs scheduled for the
Spring and Summer semesters.
Daily
News
Editor
Barbara
Collins can be reached at bcolli@
umich.edu.
Morgan recognized Cowan and
addressed her worries. He said
declaring a state of emergency would
help the board respond to the needs of
the community.
“As we heard from Keta today, what
we are talking about are the ancillary
impacts beyond just the public health
aspect of things — the residents who
are food insecure or homeless, our
economy or local businesses and all
these other aspects that I truly believe
are reaching a point of a state of
emergency now and looking forward,”
Morgan said. “Everything we do now
to mitigate the impacts on our local
businesses and our residents will help
us in the long term.”
District 2 Commissioner Sue Shink
said she and her colleagues have been
working to respond to the pandemic
and mitigate its impact on the county.
“We have been talking about
vulnerable populations,” Shink said.
“We know that there have been efforts
made … We really care and are taking
this seriously.”
Morgan also laid out plans for
additional efforts that would serve
other parts of the community.
“The county has enacted their
contingency
plan,
and
although
buildings are closed to the public until
April 6, 2020, several departments
continue to provide essential services,”
Morgan said. “Other efforts include
the extension of grace periods on fees,
fines and costs, as well as working
to support school districts who are
providing much-needed meals to their
students.”
Morgan
also
discussed
the
utilization
of
the
Emergency
Operations Center, which coordinates
the reaction to large-scale emergencies
in Washtenaw County. However,
Morgan noted that the center may only
be reached remotely.
“We’re
going
to
activate
the
Emergency
Operations
Center,
remotely or virtually,” Morgan said.
“There are a lot of those aspects that
we still need to work through, as this is
pretty unprecedented.”
Daily
Staff
Reporter
Gabriel
Boudagh can be reached at gboudagh@
Thursday, March 19, 2020 — 3A
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
NURSES
From Page 1A
COMMISSION
From Page 1A
COVID-19
From Page 1
The Senate Assembly elected
three faculty members to the Senate
Advisory Committee on University
Affairs on March 16 and 17 via
electronic voting.
The
Assembly
intended
the
vote to be conducted in person,
but due to the University of
Michigan’s guidelines to prevent
the spread of COVID-19, the Senate
Assembly voted through the newly-
implemented Simply Voting online
platform.
Speaking
to
the
University
Record, MaryJo Banasik, director
of the Faculty Senate Office, said
she thought allowing voting to take
place online was an important way
to promote participation.
“We feel that because people were
able to vote remotely, particularly
in this kind of situation when
people are working remotely, we
got a lot more participation than we
normally would have had,” Banasik
said.
From a field of nine candidates,
the Senate Assembly chose J. Caitlin
Finlayson,
associate
professor
of
English
at
U-M
Dearborn;
Allen P. Liu, associate professor
of
mechanical
engineering,
biomedical
engineering
and
biophysics; and Kentaro Toyama,
W.
K.
Kellogg
Professor
of
community information, professor
of information and chair of the
Academic Advisory Committee to
succeed Joy Beatty, Sami Malek and
Neil Marsh respectively, who are
term-limited.
In
her
candidate
statement,
Finlayson said she seeks to expand
SACUA’s awareness and inclusion of
voices from across the University’s
three campuses.
“There is strength and value in
faculty governance when diverse
voices across the three campuses
are heard and we act collectively to
promote the interests of the faculty
as a whole,” Finlayson said in her
statement.
Liu
said
sharing
governing
responsibility between faculty and
administration is the key to make
institutionally beneficial decisions.
“As
a
SACUA
member
working with our colleagues and
administration, I will work to build
shared vision, shared engagement,
shared
mutual
respect,
shared
information and shared risk,” Liu
said in his candidate statement.
Toyama said in his candidate
statement that his experience on
multiple faculty governing bodies
and committees has given him an
understanding of the workings of
faculty governance.
Finlayson, Liu and Toyama will
begin their three-year terms on May
1.
Reporter Julia Rubin can be
reached at julrubin@umich.edu.
JULIA RUBIN
Daily Staff Reporter
Three faculty members appointed to
SACUA in body’s first electronic vote
Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs holds election digitally out of concern over virus