When
bringing
their
concerns
to
Schlissel,
the
faculty members noted the
metric regarding more than 70
new cases per million in the
county had been met.
According to data published
on MI Safe Start Map, daily
new cases per million were
above 70 in Washtenaw County
around a dozen times during
the last weeks of September.
After that point, the daily new
cases per million fell below the
threshold.
The University posted the
metrics
online
Wednesday.
Schlissel
had
previously
declined to name a specific
threshold such as a certain
number of cases that would
require the campus to close
again.
Information
Professor
Kentaro
Toyama,
who
has
been vocal in his criticism of
Schlissel, wrote in his email to
the president that the metrics
were not stringent enough.
“Many
of
us
believe,
incidentally,
that
these
response metrics are lenient
-- they are weaker than the
standards at other universities,”
Toyama wrote. “The language
on the website calls these
‘situations that might provoke
changes in our campus plans,’
which unfortunately commits
to no action, and is logically
equivalent to this summer’s
propaganda.”
When
a
threshold
is
breached, the University begins
a review of campus operations
to consider what response is
needed.
In an email to The Daily
Friday
night,
University
spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald
said Schlissel was in discussions
with public health experts and
advisers about the next steps.
“He was confirming what
had been noted in the email,
that in Washtenaw County
there are more than 70 new
cases per million,” Fitzgerald
wrote. “As he indicated, the
Campus
Health
Response
Committee
is
carefully
considering the situation. It is
important to note that, as the
president said, ‘there are many
options for interventions that
must be tailored to the exact
circumstances.’”
Other triggers include an
inability to conduct prompt
case investigation and contact
tracing or limited bed capacity
or
personal
protective
equipment
at
Michigan
Medicine. Additional metrics
are five days of test positivity
rates above 20% from on and
off-campus
testing
or
five
days of sustained increases
in infections among students,
staff or faculty, which would
be determined in coordination
with the Washtenaw County
Health Department.
Possible mitigation strategies
range from restricting travel
on-campus students to pausing
in-person classes for two weeks
or even pivoting to fully online
classes for the remainder of
the semester. More extreme
options could include a shelter-
in-place
order
issued
in
coordination with local public
health
officials
or
closing
residence halls. However, the
guidelines note that the latter
measure “must be evaluated
and undertaken with care due
to the risk of seeding infections
from the student population
into other communities.”
Public health experts have
also noted the potential danger
of sending students back home
from a campus that has become
a COVID-19 hotspot.
On
Tuesday,
University
Housing identified clusters of
COVID-19 cases at Mosher-
Jordan Residence Hall and
Alice Lloyd Residence Hall.
Earlier in September, a cluster
was reported at South Quad
Residence Hall.
At the start of the pandemic
last spring, students in dorms
faced
uncertainty
about
whether or not they would be
forced to return home or if
they could stay on campus. The
University eventually offered a
$1,200 refund to students who
left the residence halls.
In an interview with The
Daily Thursday, Schlissel said
he does not anticipate needing
to send students home in the
near future.
“I very much doubt that the
pandemic will get bad enough
that we literally have to send
everybody
home,”
Schlissel
said. “I think there’s a long way
between
sending
everybody
home and where we are now
where
we
can
scale
back
prudently, and really truly limit
things to things that can only
happen face-to-face.”
In a video posted with the
criteria on Wednesday, Preeti
Malani, chief health officer at
the University, said the metrics
were based on those currently
in use at the state and local level,
as well as national guidelines.
“There is no one single
number
or
single
piece
of
information that will prompt
an immediate change,” Malani
said. “... These response metrics
are meant to prompt a broader
review by public health and
medical experts.”
According to the University’s
COVID-19
dashboard,
there
have been 555 cases on campus
since Aug. 30, the day before
fall classes started. As of Friday
night, 2,571 tests have been
conducted this week, with a
1.5% positivity rate.
In a press release Friday,
Jimena Loveluck, health officer
for Washtenaw County, noted
that young people accounted for
the majority of cases.
“We are currently seeing a
sharp increase in cases among
local, college-age individuals,”
Loveluck said in a statement.
“We know social gatherings
without
precautions
are
a
primary source of exposure. We
can prevent additional spread
by
keeping
all
gatherings
small, using face coverings and
distance, and fully cooperating
with case investigators and
contact tracers.”
County
data
showed
a
“significant increase” in the
proportion
of
cases
among
people between 18 and 22
years old, who made up 78% of
reported cases from Sept. 17 to
Sept. 30.
Aspects of the University’s
reopening plan have been met
with pushback from public
health
professionals.
Julia
Marcus, an infectious disease
epidemiologist and professor at
Harvard Medical School, called
Schlissel’s
approach
one
of
“false reassurance,” referencing
the lack of widespread testing.
Schlissel also acknowledged
the increases in cases over
recent weeks on Thursday.
“I
am
very
concerned,”
Schlissel said. “I think we’re
holding our own, but things
are not heading in the right
direction now.”
Daily Staff Reporter Dominick
Sokotoff contributed reporting.
Managing News Editors Leah
Graham and Sayali Amin can be
reached at leahgra@umich.edu
and sayalia@umich.edu.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, October 7, 2020 — 3
METRIC
From Page 1
In an interview with the
Daily, University of Michigan
President Mark Schlissel said
that he had instructed UHS
to ease up restrictions on who
could receive a test, in order
to encourage students to get
tested.
“We’re telling (UHS) to ease
up because we want students to
use UHS,” Schlissel said. “It’s
free, it’s convenient, there’s a
one-day turnaround time, and
we can work with students
immediately when they get a
positive result to help assure
their health and to make sure
it doesn’t spread to others, so
we’re going to have the UHS
folks be a little more relaxed …
You know, we want to test you.”
The
University
has
said
it would test approximately
3,000 asymptomatic students
a week through a voluntary
surveillance testing program,
with
plans
to
ramp
up
capacity to 6,000 tests per
week beginning in October.
According to the University’s
COVID-19
website,
more
than 3,100 students combined
have been tested through the
surveillance program in the
last four weeks.
After
concerns
regarding
the accuracy of the school’s
COVID-19
dashboard,
the
University incorporated off-
campus positive results, more
than doubling the cumulative
case count since the start of the
school year.
Susan
Ringler-Cerniglia,
Washtenaw
County
health
department
communications
administrator, said the county
only receives the number of
positive results, leaving the
total number of off-campus
tests conducted unknown.
The
county’s
health
department
has
a
legal
agreement with the University
to alert the school of all
University-related cases. To
check if a positive case is tied
to the University, Ringler-
Cerniglia
said
the
health
department looks to see if
the case is connected to an
on-campus address or an out-
of-state address. Both of these
are usually good indicators
that the person who tested
positive was a student.
“Is it absolutely, 100 percent
foolproof?
No,”
Ringler-
Cerniglia
said.
“But
our
experiences over the years, it
works pretty well at figuring
out when those positive test
results come up.”
Students who get tested off-
campus are supposed to report
both their positive or negative
results to the University on the
UHS website. But LSA junior
Sophie Gibson, who got tested
at Eastern Michigan University,
said she was unaware she had
to share her result.
“I was told there was a rapid
test for free at EMU,” Gibson
said. “I did not report my
results. I don’t really know how
to do that.”
Ringler-Cerniglia said the
health department has seen
an influx of rapid antigen
tests recently. She expressed
concern about this trend, as
rapid tests have high rates of
false negatives.
Urgent care centers and
other
off-campus
testing
centers are not required to
report their case counts or
any other information to the
University.
Representatives
from
urgent
care
centers
Michigan Urgent Care and
Prognify told The Daily they
do not track whether patients
are students, meaning they
cannot provide the University
with information about the
student test results. Instead,
local urgent cares are required
to report positive cases to the
Washtenaw
County
Health
Department, which according
to Schlissel, works “hand in
glove” with the University.
“So they send us those
results, we collaborate, and
then we do the investigation,
case
tracking,
we
provide
quarantine,” Schlissel said. “So
all that it does when you get a
positive test off campus, is it
slows down by at least a day,
how quickly we can intervene
to try to keep a positive case
from
spreading
amongst
friends or contacts so it’s not a
great strategy.”
A representative from Ann
Arbor Urgent Care told The
Daily they charge $150 for
a COVID-19 test to students
without
health
insurance.
The cost can pose a barrier to
students who do not qualify for
UHS testing.
In
a
Sept.
25
email,
University
President
Mark
Schlissel
said
he
wanted
to
“emphasize
again
the
importance of students being
tested at UHS, especially in
light of the numbers of positive
cases
that
we
are
seeing
identified
by
off-campus
testing.”
As of Sunday night, the
Maize and Blueprint COVID-19
dashboard showed more than
600 cases since the week of
Aug. 30. The University has also
confirmed COVID-19 clusters
in South Quad, Mosher-Jordan
and Alice Lloyd Residences
Halls. Additionally, on Friday
Washtenaw County exceeded
the number of cases needed for
administrators to reevaluate
on-campus operations.
After coming in contact
with a friend whose roommate
had
tested
positive,
LSA
junior Jordan Wank wanted
to get tested for COVID-19
immediately. He said he opted
for UHS because he thought
the result would come back
faster.
“(It was) very easy,” Wank
said. “I was handed a sticker
and then I gave it to a doctor
and they tested me and then I
left. It was 36 hours from the
time I contacted them to when
I received my results.”
Getachew
said
she
was
pleasantly surprised by the
quick
turnaround
of
UHS
testing, but still has complaints
about the University’s overall
testing situation.
“I do still believe that the
school is doing a lot of under-
testing, and I don’t believe I
should lie if I’ve been exposed
to someone in order to get a
test,” Getachew said. “So I
think my frustration is still
very real with the fact that it’s
not as easy to get a test from
the school, and my first option
was to go to urgent care.”
Some public health experts
have
been
critical
of
the
University’s plans for testing,
saying it is not expansive
enough to keep the virus in
check.
Ransom
said
she
understands that off-campus
tests
may
seem
appealing
because students can just walk
in. However, Ransom said it
is either less reliable or takes
longer than in-house tests at
UHS.
“Outside testing facilities
are either using an unreliable
rapid test that then has to have
a confirmatory PCR (nasal
swab) test, or they’re using
PCR tests through the state
of Michigan, which is three
to five days until you get your
result,” Ransom said.
Ransom said because UHS
uses Michigan Medicine as
its lab site, most students
get results in 24 hours. She
encouraged students to test at
UHS if they can and stressed
that a UHS test does not
require students to quarantine
on North Campus.
She added that a negative test
does not remove the burden of
quarantining for 14 days.
“Students who have a high-
risk exposure will need to
quarantine for 14 days, even
if they have a negative test
result,” Ransom said. “So the
test result being negative does
not free them from quarantine
early. We want to make sure
that everyone here on campus
is safe, and so doing your part to
kind of minimize risk to other
students is really important.”
Daily Staff Reporters Dominic
Coletti and Jenna Siteman can
be reached at dcoletti@umich.
edu and jsiteman@umich.edu.
TESTING
From Page 1
The first couple of weeks of
the semester went spectacularly
well, the number of cases was
exceedingly low, the pre-arrival
screening for people in the
residence halls (tested) 6000
people, we were able to identify
22 positive cases, a very low
rate but those folks came to
school later. So the year got off
to an outstanding start. The last
couple of weeks have been very
difficult, and the number of cases
have grown significantly. I don’t
know whether it’s confidence, or
misguided ideas, but more and
more testing of students is being
done off campus at local testing
facilities, perhaps with the idea
of not wanting the University
to find out if somebody has the
virus which, regardless of other
thoughts is not a very good
strategy amongst students. But
things have gotten significantly
more challenging the last two to
two and a half weeks, probably
part of it as things are getting
colder, a little bit more socializing
moving indoors. Another part is
probably people getting tired of
having to constrain the way they
want to interact, so we’re sort of
letting our guard down a little
bit.
… Everyone should realize
that COVID-19 is a reportable
disease so that means the law
says that any testing facility has
to report all positive results to
the relevant county and state
health department — it’s the law.
So what happens when someone
gets tested off-campus, if they’re
positive, the result goes to the
county health department, and
we work hand in glove with
the Washtenaw County Health
Department.
We
meet
with
them on a daily basis, we’re
working together trying to deal
with some outbreaks in town
amongst Michigan students. So
they send us those results, we
collaborate, and then we do the
investigation, case tracking, we
provide quarantine. So all that it
does when you get a positive test
off campus, is it slows down by at
least a day, how quickly we can
intervene to try to keep a positive
case from spreading amongst
friends or contacts so it’s not a
great strategy.
I do understand, though, that
people have complained to me.
For example, that one reason
they’ll get tested off campus is
the University Health Service
won’t test them, or they’ll say,
‘Look, I’ve had a close contact,’
and the health service talks to
them a little, and it really isn’t a
close contact, it’s a casual contact
and health service was saying
‘Look, you know we have to put
our resources where the to close
public health contacts are.’ But
we’re telling (UHS) to ease up
because we want students to use
UHS. It’s free, it’s convenient,
there’s a one-day turnaround
time, and we can work with
students immediately when they
get a positive result to help assure
their health and to make sure it
doesn’t spread to others, so we’re
going to have the UHS folks
be a little more relaxed … You
know, we want to test you. We’re
ramping up our testing capacity,
this coming week on Monday we
switched to a saliva test … And
that’s really in response to the
community saying, ‘We don’t feel
safe because we don’t feel there’s
enough testing.’ Up to now,
we’ve been using testing to do
a statistical surveillance of the
campus so we can act on areas
where the rates are increasing.
But I do think it’s important to
recognize that people’s sense
of safety and well-being is very
important, and if we can improve
that by expanding testing and
maybe even making it mandatory
for people in dormitories ––
we’re discussing that now –– it
would reassure a lot of people,
and help us better deal with the
pandemic collectively.
TMD: So, given the sharp
uptick in student COVID-19
cases over the last few weeks, are
you still more confident than not,
that students will be responsible
and that we’ll make it through
the fall semester in person?
MS:
You
know,
it’s
an
extremely
difficult
question,
and I am very concerned. I think
we’re holding our own, but things
are not heading in the right
direction now. It’s not an “all-
or-none” kind of thing. In other
words, when infections increase,
the only option isn’t to send
everybody home. There are lots
of options short of that … What
we do when there’s a case, or a
cluster of cases, is we investigate
them and we ask whether they’re
spreading
throughout
the
community, or whether they’re
limited to a group of students,
usually people that are socially
interacting with each other.
One of the places we’re running
into trouble in the last couple of
weeks is in the fraternities and
sororities in town, both affiliated
and some of the disaffiliated
fraternities, where we haven’t
gotten uniformly the level of
cooperation
that’s
necessary
to be able to investigate cases
and try to protect people and
prevent it from spreading. So
that’s something we’re working
very closely with the health
department on, on literally an
every single day basis.
TMD:
The
Graduate
Employees’ Organization went
on strike earlier this month.
Among GEO’s demands was the
universal right to work remotely.
The University has extended
that right to faculty, but even
in the final offer made to GEO,
the University did not offer that
right to graduate employees.
In communications to both the
graduate employees and the
student body at large, other
demands have been addressed,
but there has not been a clear
explanation of why that right
cannot be given to graduate
employees. Why is that?
MS: Faculty do not have a
universal right to decide whether
they want to work in person or
remotely. That may be something
that you’ve been told, but that’s
actually not true. The Graduate
Student Instructors are actually
treated the same as faculty in this
regard. We try to accommodate
every single person’s sense of
health and safety, preexisting
or predisposing conditions, etc.
And at the end, it’s very difficult
to identify people that are willing
to say they feel forced to teach
in person … So as part of the
resolution of the strike, we came
up with a mechanism where any
GSI who feels uncomfortable or
unsafe in the class and doesn’t
have their question immediately
resolved, can step away and
teach
remotely
while
we
investigate the situation and try
to fix the problem … We have no
interest in being anything other
than collaborative with our own
students.
Now what pushed us to,
you know, go the route of an
injunction and try to get some
help, is I was very concerned that
the integrity of the Michigan
undergraduate curriculum was
being threatened … when classes
are getting canceled for a couple
of weeks, and education of other
people is being interfered with,
why would someone want to
come and be an undergraduate
at the University of Michigan
if I couldn’t assure that they’d
actually get to take the classes
they signed up for? And if it kept
going on for weeks and weeks,
what would happen to your
semester? We would give you
all incompletes. That’s it, you
paid for it, but you’re not going
to get any credit. So we had to
come up with a way to help the
GEO feel safe and be safe in the
classroom and deal with their
concerns around their academic
progress as students in order
to
keep
the
undergraduate
curriculum going. We had an
agreement the very first week,
and the leadership took it back to
the members and the members
voted it down. So we were very
concerned that we weren’t going
to be able to reach an agreement.
And all the while, you know, of
course we were continuing to pay
our graduate students. We never
stopped paying them, we never
stopped covering their tuition,
we never threatened anyone
individually. The injunction was
aimed at the union as opposed
to individuals. We were going to
sue the union if they didn’t live
up to their word to go back to
work.
TMD: In their demands,
GEO included disarming DPSS
and reallocating around 50
percent of its funding. Why
did the University not really
address GEO’s concerns over
policing in the offers extended
to them beyond the creation of
a review commission, and has
the strike made you reconsider
policing on campus?
MS: I think what’s made
us think hard about policing
on campus is what’s been
happening in the United States
and, you know, not just the
last few months but certainly
the last few months, but in
recent
years,
the
greater
and greater appreciation of
disproportionate policing. The
killing by police of unarmed
people and very prominently
Black people in recent months.
The fear and anxiety that many
people have simply seeing a
police officer, all those things,
lead us to the conclusion that,
not only do we have to look
at policing more broadly in
society, but we have to make
sure that we’re doing it right
here at the University. So,
I have nothing but respect
and gratitude to the GEOs
for bringing this up, but it’s
not just a GEO issue. It’s an
undergraduate student issue,
it’s a schools and colleges issue,
it’s a city of Ann Arbor issue.
SCHLISSEL
From Page 1
Read more at
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