Well, good afternoon, everyone, and hope you are having a fabulous Friday. Welcome to this week's Fireside Chat. I'm Lisa Stearns, and here with Dr. Tim Cross, our Senior Vice President.
We'll be updating you today, as usual, on the latest information regarding COVID-19 cases within the university, and then we'll be sharing some next steps in returning to the workplace. So a couple reminders. Remember to keep your audio muted during the chat. Use the chat function on Zoom to ask any questions.
You can post them publicly, or you can send them privately to me. And, of course, a recording of this session will be made and posted to the UTIA coronavirus website. You can find that link on our homepage at utia.tennessee.edu. Tim, how does the current case count look for the university and the institute?
Well, good afternoon once again, Lisa, and hello, everyone. Hope you've all had a good week. I feel like it's been a flurry of activities, meetings, and so forth in my office, but it's been a good week, and I trust you can all look back and say something similar or feel similarly, at least. Let's jump right in and talk a little bit about where we're at in terms of our COVID cases, and then, as Lisa mentioned, I want to talk a little bit about planning for the future as well, so we'll get into that shortly.
So let me see if I can pull up our data for this week, and I've kept with the same format, same charts, and so forth to hopefully make it easier to glance at this and be familiar with it for those of you that have been on for several weeks in a row. So we'll start out looking at university-wide, our numbers today, and if you look at the university-wide active positive cases, you'll see that it's sort of much like it has been for the past eight weeks or so, actually the past almost 12 weeks, I guess now, with a very low number of university-wide active positive cases ever since the decline in mid-September. So today, we're looking at 57 students that are active positive cases and a total of 13 employees, and just as a reminder, those numbers include the UTIA numbers as well, so that's across all of both Knoxville campus and the Institute of Ag campus. So those are the number of individuals that are actively positive today, and if you then look at how many, oops, and I've forgotten to even start my slideshow here.
You then go to our isolations, those who are in isolation, for either the reason that they've had direct contact with a positive case or that they are a positive case themselves. Again, we're at approximately the same numbers we've seen for the last several weeks, with 261 students currently in isolation and 52 employees in self-isolation as well. So the story from the university is, again, much the same as what we've seen. So let's shift from university-wide to looking specifically at the Institute of Agriculture, and again, I think it's much the same, so I'm going to sound a bit like a broken record here.
Today, we have three active positive cases in the Institute, and as you can see, our numbers have ranged anywhere from one to six since mid-August, so our numbers have really stayed quite constant throughout that entire time period, and we're really glad, of course, to see such low numbers. So active positive cases, three as of today, and that's for employees. And then number of self-isolations, which again includes those active positive cases. Today, we're looking at 10 across the Institute of Ag, and for the UTI numbers, that's on-campus and off-campus.
So again, looking all the way back to mid to late August, numbers look quite steady there. We saw a little bit of an increase in September, and then a bit of a jump in mid-October, but here we are at the end of the month back down to approximately 10 today. So much positive there in terms of our experiences in our number of cases, and that's to me in vivid contrast to what I'm about to share, because next I'll show the data that we're looking at right now for the U.S., and this is not a pretty picture in terms of active positive cases. As you've probably seen or heard, the number of positive cases, daily new cases, is increasing quite dramatically.
We're actually beyond where we were last July in terms of the number of new active cases per day, and no sign yet that that has reached a peak, so we're going to have to watch that obviously very carefully. This, I think, to some extent was expected due to the colder weather, due to more people being indoors and perhaps in more regular contact, closer proximity. Nonetheless, this is not the way we want this truck to look. We'd sure rather see a downward slope than an upward slope.
So for the U.S., we're seeing upwards of 70,000-plus new cases per day. That's not good at all. And for Tennessee, a similar story, not quite as dramatic, but we're also seeing an increasing number of cases within the state of Tennessee as well. We had driven cases down to about 1,200 cases per day back in September, and now here in October, we're approaching 3,000 new cases per day.
So it's, I'm sorry, active positive cases is actually what that represents. So our number of cases has increased statewide as well, and you can see it's varied quite a little bit from day to day, but in general, again, the trend is positive and upwards, and that's exactly the opposite of what we'd like to see. We'd like to see a negative slope and a downward trend. So right now, off-campus, it looks like things are quite challenging.
So I know that it is impossible to know what the future holds, but to the best of your ability in just looking at the data, what does the outlook for spring 2021 look like? Well, I think that's a great question, and obviously, I don't have a good crystal ball, so I think what we're looking at going forward, we've got to think about what the needs are, what our responsibilities are, and certainly how we go about meeting those needs in the future. I think it's pretty clear to me and probably to each of you, COVID-19 isn't going away anytime soon. We don't expect the number of active cases per day to go to zero anytime in the near future.
We hear a lot about vaccines, we hear a lot about therapeutic treatments and so forth, and that's all positive. However, the charts I've just shown you don't cause me to think that we're going to hit a solution or really stop this pandemic anytime soon. So with that in mind, I think to myself, gosh, we've demonstrated on campus and across our institute, off-campus as well, that we can stay healthy and avoid workplace transmission if we do the things that we keep talking about every week, wearing masks, washing hands, completing our daily health check, and making sure we pay attention to that, staying home when we're sick, and certainly maintaining social distancing. I think as I consider our institute and higher ed in general, I feel like what we do really does change lives, and I think the ability that we've had to change lives has been severely impacted the past eight months.
As we've changed the way we do things, we've certainly approached things in different ways, and that's been positive. But I feel like if you talk to students, you'll hear them say it's been acceptable, but it hasn't been great. They would like more interaction, more engagement. I suspect if we talk to other audiences and groups that we serve, we would hear much the same.
I've had some of that feedback from poor ageers, both youth and parents. So I think we really need to think about how to scale up, but do so following all those practices I just said, and bearing in mind that for the past several months, we demonstrated that we could keep our numbers low even when the rest of the country, and the rest of the world for that matter, has been experiencing significant increases. So I think about the fact that students are going to be going home from campus at least in late November, and they won't return until January 20th. So we've got a long break.
That does a couple of good things here on campus at least. It allows for all the facilities to be very thoroughly cleaned and sanitized and let everything have a rest, if you will. But it also gives us two months when our campus is going to have a very low population. So I think particularly here on campus, we can use December and January to bring some of our folks back, if you will, get some experience with an increased physical presence, with the notion that maybe we want to scale up to about 50% or so across our campus and our offices, and do that at a time when at least, again, on campus, the total number of people on campus will be low.
Now, as we do that, I think certainly we want to keep monitoring our data very carefully, and if we see a prolonged spike in our numbers, by prolonged I mean several days, not several weeks or months, if we see the numbers change dramatically, then I think we need to say, all right, that's not going to work. We need to scale that down again and just keep monitoring that situation very carefully. I think that gives us an ability to get some experience with a few more people present, but also do so safely, and when there's a smaller number of people around. So that's kind of what I think we need to be planning for and moving towards, and I'm calling it for spring of 2021, but basically beginning with the academic spring semester, if you will.
And I'm thinking that we need to do that not only on campus, but across the state, to begin to fulfill all of our responsibilities towards changing lives and premium lives even more than what we have been the past several months. So that's my outlook at this point in time, Lisa. So in thinking through that, how might that look for our offices then starting in December, and how will we determine this staffing to bring it to 50%? So the last thing I want to do is manage this for my office on an office-by-office basis.
This really needs to be done carefully and thoughtfully, just like our past increases in staffing. So I think we should continue to look at this at each of our offices, each of our locations, and rely upon our deans, department heads, directors to really make plans within each of our offices as to how we go about scaling up. And I think as they do that, they in turn should continue to think about staggered schedules, where some people come in one day, some in another. Maybe some come in in the morning and some in the afternoon.
I mean, there's a lot of different approaches so that we don't have everyone back all at the same time. This is not an approach to saying all hands back on deck. That's certainly not the case. I think this is a matter of scaling up from where we're at.
And again, we're talking about scaling up towards the spring academics semester, but moving towards that using staggered schedules, rotations, and other options so that we're maybe approaching 50% staffing at any point in time. Now, as I say that, I know some of you are saying, I'm in a high-risk category. I've got an underlying health condition. Don't make me come back to work.
And let me just say right up front, we're not going to. We've got procedures already in place that anyone with an underlying condition can actually request a reasonable ADA accommodation through our Office of Equity and Diversity. And as we move further into this, we'll make sure everyone has information about that so that if they feel like there is no way that they can be back in the workplace at any time during this pandemic, then we've got a way to really document that without anyone having to have personal health conversations within their own office. So there's a process out there for that.
We're not ready to push everyone in that direction, if you will, but I want to make sure we do have that process and we'll use that going forward. I also know that some of you are going to be thinking to yourself, I've been able to do my job very effectively and very successfully for the past eight months. I just assume keep working entirely remotely. And if that's the case, I think it's probably time to start to talk about establishing indefinite plans to work remotely for such employees.
And I think that clearly needs to be a conversation that starts between the employee and his or her supervisor. And then we can develop more formalized remote working plans for individual employees that do feel like they can function very well and whose supervisor agrees that all responsibilities are being performed as needed. So for those employees, there's an option certainly to continue working remotely and do so indefinitely. And even for those employees, I think we should continue to plan to offer what I'll call hot space or flexible space because they may occasionally still need to come back to our campus or our offices in order to complete certain tasks or responsibilities or be present for meetings.
So there's options to consider in terms of an indefinite remote working plan as well. So out of all of this, I think what we're trying to do is just get a view towards how things might work in the spring. And we want to start talking about it now, because if we wait to talk about it until the spring, it'll be too late to prepare. So that's why, as we see cases spiking here, I am talking about scaling up, but it's because we don't want to spring new ideas or new approaches on anyone at the last minute.
I think we should think about it now. And then if it's clear that this won't work, that we're experiencing increases ourselves, we can always scale back again. So I'm sure it's someone out there asking what you just said, and that is really, how can we scale up when cases are soaring all the way around this? Yeah, it seems a bit ironic, doesn't it, to be, for me to say, well, we're seeing record high cases in the U.S., great news, we're going to scale up because of that.
And that's really not part of my thought process. I guess as I look at it, I see four months of data for the university and for the institute that shows very low and very flat numbers of active positive cases and self-isolations among employees. We've not documented any transmission of coronavirus among students and employees in our classrooms, in our offices, or in our laboratories. So I feel like if we continue to follow our established practices, we can scale up safely.
And again, if we see a spike, we'll scale back down again. I hope you know me as someone who says, if something's not working, I'm not afraid to back up on it. I don't feel like I'm perfect, I don't have a perfect vision of the future, but I also feel like we change lives, people depend on us. And while we've done a great job of being creative, addressing the needs of stakeholders, I think it's also time to acknowledge that these current conditions are likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
And we just need to think about how to really continue to ramp up our classroom teaching, our youth development, critical research activities, our service, clinical service, and other kinds of service, so that the people in the state of Tennessee get what they've expected from us and what they've appropriated for us in terms of funding and support. So I just feel like now is the time to start making plans for that, and to make those plans carefully and thoughtfully, not have to do it at the last minute, but to grow into this a little bit over time, bearing in mind that we may have to adjust or reset at any point in time. So that's my thought process, and I think others are feeling much the same way. I've heard a lot of input from others about, really want to be back in the classroom, or I really want to be able to have a little more contact with my coworkers or my peers.
So hopefully this might give us an opportunity to move that direction, but do so safely. So now's everyone's opportunity to ask any questions that they might have. We do have one, and that is, what about parents with children in virtual school? The deadline to change for Knox County is today.
So what should those parents be thinking? I didn't realize the deadline was today, but I suspect every school district has their own deadline, and I know that's going to be a challenge. Well, you know, I think, again, parents with children may have some challenges, certainly. I've had four children in a while, and I say I've had them, and I still have four children, but they're not kids anymore, so I remember the pressures and the stresses, as well as the fun of being a parent with children in school.
I think what we've got to do is obviously reach some balance, right? You've got to do what's... best for your family. On the other hand, we have a responsibility to carry out our duties as employees of the university based upon the support that we receive.
So I think that probably starts with a conversation with your supervisor, and we just have to tackle these situations one by one and determine what makes the most sense. I think we've got to be fair to one another too, right? Someone who has no children shouldn't be expected to work every day because their co-worker has children, right? We can't be unfair to one another in this process either.
So maybe it's a matter of working out an opportunity or a schedule where a family with children, the spouses alternate weeks or alternate days in which they come to the office. I just made an assumption that there's two spouses, and I recognize that's a bad assumption on my part, but I think you get the idea. Maybe we can figure out with caregivers or daycare or other opportunities how we can balance out the needs between family and the workplace. So do you envision that each supervisor will now be working with their teams to figure out how to make a plan, I guess, for 50% competency?
You know, my intention today is to make everybody start thinking about this, and that's where we say, I can't make you think about anything. What I'd like to do is motivate folks to start thinking about this, and that includes our supervisors as well as all of our faculty and staff and student employees. You know, I don't expect that by Monday we're going to have all this down to the last person in the last office and every last detail, but I know that we live in a time of extreme uncertainty, and I think it's time for us to sort of nail down our approach to some extent to the degree we can by starting to make some plans so that, again, this isn't a surprise at the last minute for anyone, and so that we can develop plans that make sense in each office. So my intention would be the next several weeks we'll follow up with some support for our supervisors who in turn can work with each of you developing more specific plans within each office.
And what did you have a message? You're going out to everyone after the chat, just so for those that haven't joined today, we'll also get the same information. Yeah, that's right. Everyone here gets extra credit, but for the rest of the organization, they'll just get it in black and white.
So hopefully it'll be a consistent message though as well. Well, we actually have no other questions. So do you have some final remarks you'd like to share? Oh, you know, I'd like to have the last word, but gosh, I can't believe there's no more questions.
But let me make sure you all know, you can always push back. You can always respond. You can always challenge me. I hope this isn't simply a one-way conveyance of information or communication.
I don't want to be one way about things. It's hard to have a really engaged dialogue with 100 plus individuals, but I do hope that each of you feel like you've got an opportunity to say, that's the craziest thing I've ever heard. So while you may not be comfortable saying it to this whole group, you've got some thoughts or ideas. Let me encourage you to let me know, let your supervisor know, let's stay in touch.
My intention here isn't to raise stress or increase the turmoil that we got way too much of today. Anyway, just want to get us to start thinking towards the future. Think about how to make some plans that will keep us all safe, but that will continue to serve Tennesseans as well. So with that in mind, it does seem to me like one of the huge things we've lost for the past eight months is certainty.
You know, it seems like everything is so uncertain right now. I hope as I've outlined this approach for the spring, it does help you to think about plans and prepare and by doing that, maybe reduce a little uncertainty at least. We do have, I think, a very serious responsibility to our state and all of our communities and our students to provide real-life solutions and to continue to improve lives. Somebody reminded me the other day that their university experience changed the course of their whole life.
You know, it set their career, it gave them the opportunity to meet their future spouse, who in turn, they had children together. I mean, they talked about how significant their time at the university was, and I just think we can't underestimate the impact that we have and therefore the responsibility that we have. So along with that responsibility of others, of course, remember, we have a responsibility to protect ourselves as well as one another. So keep wearing your masks, keep your distance from others.
You've been doing a great job, and that's obvious by our numbers, but we want to keep that as well, and we don't want to in any way misinterpret what I've said is everything's great, go back to work just like normal. We can't do that. We've got to continue following our standard safety practices that have been in place for several months now. And as we do have some time, let's work towards plans for the spring.
We don't have to do this tomorrow. As I said, it doesn't have to be done overnight, but let's start to think thoughtfully about what the future holds. Stay in close touch with your supervisor, and let's focus on wrapping up this year on as positive a note as possible while we get ready for all the challenges that we'll face in 2021. I'm confident we can have a great year next year, and I really feel good in many, many ways about how we've gotten through 2020 thus far.
So we're not at the end of the year yet, clearly, but we do need to be thinking about the future while we wrap up this year. So with that, I want to thank everyone for joining us once again. I know once a week comes quite regular, and I think Lisa and I know that as well as anyone, but each of you has dedicated time and set aside time for this as well. I appreciate it.
Need a lot. Actually, there is one other question. So we would like some clarification on public meetings, and are they still limited to 50 participants? Yeah, great question.
So everything I said doesn't change any of our state guidance at all, and currently we're still limited to 50 participants in public meetings. We provided exceptions to a number of meetings, and I know at least one of our regional station directors is with us here today. I know of several public meetings across the state that have happened. By and large, most of those meetings have been in outdoor facilities or in facilities that were very large that allowed for social distancing.
So there are still restrictions, but there, again, also are exceptions if we can figure out a way to do things safely and in the right venue. So let's not, again, just throw up our hands and say, okay, it's business as usual. We're still going to have socially distanced classrooms, and meetings and events and activities should be held to 50 or less, but if it needs to be larger, let's just make all the accommodations that will enable that to be done safely. Great question.
Great question. And even in our offices, we need to be thinking about that as well. Definitely. So when I'm here in the office, either Trish or Tammy is outside the door normally, but not both of them at the same time.
And I go out to talk to them. I put my mask on. When they come in to see me, they put their mask on. But meantime, we're not together.
We've got our mask off and we're working. And it seems like things are functioning quite well. So we've all got to work out those practices and procedures in our offices. I've had no one ever tell me they refuse to wear a mask.
I've had a few visitors, actually. And we've had them fill out the health check form. And when they arrived, they've all had masks on. And I honestly haven't felt at risk to any extent at all throughout this process.
So that's just my experience. Each of you has different experiences. I know I've heard some stories about so-and-so not wearing a mask. And, you know, I don't condone that.
And if I learn about it specifically, I'm happy to follow up on it because it's not really a personal choice. The choice you're making is affecting others. And that's unfair, in my opinion. So we've got to protect one another and do the right thing.
Well, we appreciate the information today of just starting the planning process of doing this. And I think that helps a lot. Great. Well, thanks again, everyone, for joining us today.
And let us know what questions and concerns you have. Absolutely. Thanks, everyone, for joining us. Have a great weekend.