Well, good afternoon, everyone, and happy Friday, and welcome to this week's Fireside Chat. I'm Mrs. Stearns. However, you may notice, I am not here with Dr.
Cross today. Dr. Cross had a scheduling conflict and sends his apologies, but we do have a great guest, Dave White, our Associate Dean of Ag Research. Dave has been a member of the Emergency Operations Center at UT Knoxville since it's in session and has a broad overview of how we are responding to the pandemic.
So we'll be updating you on the status of COVID-19 cases within the university and the institute, and, of course, taking your questions if you have any. So a couple of reminders. You all know the drill. Be sure to keep your audio muted so we can all hear the conversation.
Use the chat function on Zoom if you wish to ask any questions. You can, of course, post those publicly or send them privately to me, and a recording will be made of this session, and it will be posted to the UTIA Coronavirus website. You can find that link on our homepage at utia.tennessee.edu. So, Dave, welcome.
We're really excited to have you here today as our guest, and let's start with how the case count is looking for students and employees, and that includes self-isolations. Great. Yeah, thank you, Lisa, and I also want to thank Mike Stanley for his AP support, and good afternoon, UTIA. And I need to also point out that these data changed by the hour, so the data you may have heard this morning from Chancellor Bowman, that data has already changed.
So I'm going to give you what we have as of today right now. For UTIA, including on- and off-campus employees, we have – this includes all four units of Ag Research Extension, Herbert College of Agriculture, and the College of Veteran Medicine. We have five active COVID-19 cases, and we have 18 self-isolations. So not so bad.
It's a pretty baseline compared to what we've had over the past couple weeks, and we may have one or two come into the system, but then we have a couple come off, because remember, after 14 days, we're off in self-isolation, so those numbers are changing all the time. Regarding the university, it's a very different story. In terms of positive cases and self-isolations, we have 672 active COVID-19 cases on campus. Of those 672, 661 are students, and 11 are employees.
So overwhelmingly is our students. This has obviously picked up since they've come to campus. Regarding self-isolations, we have 2,079 self-isolations. Of those, 1,018 are students that are non-residential, meaning they're not living on campus.
985 are students in a dormitory, and 76 employees. So that's kind of – at least right now, the current data that we have compared to UTIA and UK. I do want to stress for all of us on this Zoom, it is important to do the self-isolations, the daily self-training that we talked about. We have to do this, because that's what prompts the processes in place here regarding contact tracing and facility services.
And just to let folks know, for UTIA campus, if something happens in one of our spaces, they will reach out to Joe Cagle, Steve Lappenheim, and myself, and we get notified if there needs to be a deep cleaning of a particular space, and we will reach out to the impacted people to let them know what's happening. So just to let you know, we are in the loop on that, and we try to make it as efficient and quick as possible so that we're not disrupting us faculty, staff, and students. So obviously, we've been hearing a lot in the news, and you can hear about the cases and how quickly they are rising here at the university. So what actions has the Emergency Operations Center taken this week in particular, and do any of these actions affect the Institute?
Yeah, great question, Lisa. I think people will probably have seen these emails come up from the Chancellor and also from Vice Chancellor Clayton for Student Life. There were several focused actions this week implemented on campus in particular. They're probably not going to impact us at UTIA, but they're directed primarily at students.
And these actions were designed to increase both our isolation space capability and try to flatten the curve of those cases that we just talked about. So what's happening is, unfortunately, as you see the data, as self-isolations and positive cases increase, among our student population in particular, we need more space to house them. And the university has contracted with a couple of hotels. You can imagine that's very costly, and the logistics of trying to get these students food and making sure that their wealth is enormous.
So one of the things we're looking at on campus is there a location here that we could potentially turn into a self-isolation space. And they looked at one of the dormitories called Massey Hall. I'm not sure if anybody here on the Zoom ever lived in Massey Hall if they came here, but it was identified as a logical space for self-isolation due to both its current low occupancy rate, which is only about 67%, and the number of beds at houses, which is almost close to 600 beds. So you may have seen students that live in Massey are being relocated to other residence halls, and the university is trying to do as much as they can to support them during this move and all the disruptions and hardship that comes with it.
So obviously, students are not expecting this type of experience coming back, and we're doing the best they can. Not me, the university is. Before the students are moved out of Massey Hall, they are actually all being tested as well, before they move to another residence hall or they return home. So that's happening.
Yeah, that happened yesterday and today. I think they're going to finish all the testing of all the students probably today, is my guess. There were several other measures that were implemented by Campbell Plowman. These were pretty big and, again, directed to our student population.
One is no visitation in any on-campus housing. So only residents who live in the building can enter a residence hall or a great house, and only roommates or suite mates can be together in rooms. This is pretty tough if you're a college student. It really is.
And I should tell you, too, I get a lot of information from across campus because I'm the father of twins. They both go to school here. My daughter is a Harvard College of Ag student, and my son is in the College of Arts and Sciences. My daughter is also a resident assistant in South Carrick Hall, so I get all this information from our above students.
And sometimes it's very troubling. And, you know, the residents, our resident assistants and the hall directors are kind of the boots on the ground and trying to keep our students safe. And sometimes it's tough to educate 18 to 22-year-olds on health and safety when they think they're immoral. What else is happening with these directed actions?
Well, all on-campus dining will be converted to carry-out. So dining options and procedures remain the same, but there is going to be no eat and dining during the time. And this is for the next few weeks, I should point out, Lisa, too. These directives go to September 27th, and they'll be evaluated on September 27th if they need to be extended if we weren't able to flatten the curve.
So these are in account for the next few weeks. So the no eat and dining will, unfortunately, be directed at Mabel's as well. So just let you folks know, before we get that question, Mabel's will be, yes, it will be carried out only. But those of you that try to use T-Rex, that was going to be closed for the next two weeks as well.
Fitness class and instruction training can be held outside or virtually. There's a lot of people now doing virtual exercising. I'm not interested, but there may be many that are. One of the big things we probably may get questions about is all indoor in-person campus events are canceled during this two-week period.
But there's exemptions. So socially distanced, academic programming and research, as well as outdoor events with safety precautions in place and virtual events will continue. So that's important to point that out. Also, in-person classes and research will continue like we have been.
Contact tracing indicates that classrooms and current levels of research activity have not contributed to the spread of COVID-19 on campus, so that's a great thing, because that's been my focus over the past six months is on the research operations across UK and UK and keeping it going at a reduced level. Social gatherings on campus should be held outdoors. They need to follow CDC guidance on social distancing and require all attendees wear masks. So those are the main things, Lisa, I think, that were probably highlighted that I'm sure people have looked at the chancellor's message.
There's a lot to unpack in that, and students are obviously tremendously impacted by these. But it's in the next two weeks, and the goal is to flatten the curve so we don't have to do anything more drastic than this. Yes. So, and don't forget, everybody, if you have a question for Dave, be sure to post then.
So, Dave, we have been very appreciative of you serving on the ESD. So what has it been like dealing with something of this magnitude and sitting on a committee like this? Thanks, Lisa. It's been an eye-opening experience.
The Emergency Operations Center, that's the EOC, you may hear EOC, that's what that acronym stands for. It's been running for most of this year, and I joined back in March when we had to start thinking about shutting down campus, and in particular, research operations. You know, what do we do with all of our research labs? You know, we have insects, we have plants, we have animals, we just can't shut things off and go home, right?
So we had to figure out how to move to essential-only operations and then stand that back up into reduced activities. So I was able to meet a lot of people, which is great. These are people I've never interacted with, but they're in all decisions across the university. So sometimes it's a very long day, and weekends are just like weekdays, and the days blur, because we have to deal with crises all the time.
Luckily, for the research group I was in, we had most of our title surge back in the spring and early summer in terms of trying to kind of reduce operations and then trying to stand it back up again in August. But a little bit more about the EOC. So the EOC is made up of quite a few people across the university, has multiple coordinating groups who meet twice daily, and of course any other time when there's a crisis or something has to be addressed. From UTIA, there's four of us that participate.
There's Dr. Cross, who's based on the policy group. Doug Edlin from Marketing Communications is on. The EOC, Steve Crouch, from UTIA Safety, and myself.
So some of the sections I can quickly go in that comprise the EOC are the command staff, which we met Dr. Spencer Gregg a few weeks ago. Brian Gardner, who's our emergency operations coordinator, and Chief Troy Lane. They're on the command staff.
The policy group is the chancellor, the provost, a lot of vice chancellors. That's where senior vice chancellor Cross is also positioned. There's also another group, finance and administration. They have a budget and finance, employee relations, risk management.
The idea is to mix different groups all across the university. We have the operations group, which is student life, global engagement, diversity engagement, UTPD, safety. Steve Crouch is part of the operations group. And then we have planning, which is also UTPD, academics, and research.
And that's where I'm kind of housed in the planning. And then we have logistics, which, as you can imagine, is really important these days, housing, transportation, facilities, and dining. And with all this going on, there's a lot of coordination. So we've also started reading Zoom meetings between myself, Doug Bonner, Marcy Susan, and Doug Edlin to ensure coordination as well across UTI and UTK activities.
So overall, I met a lot of folks in a lot of different positions. And I think, believe it or not, it's been a really good opportunity to help UTK understand UTI, in particular our statewide presence. Because a lot of times when they do something, they don't think about our 1,000 employees off of Knoxville campus. For example, when you look at the self-isolation form, one of the questions is, have you been on campus in the past seven days?
We've had a couple of our staff who have been out in the county filling out the self-isolation form who have checked no because the question was, have you been on campus? The question should be, have you been in your workplace? Because they have been in the workplace. And then we have to figure out, have they come in contact with another UTI employee?
Do we need enhanced cleaning? So luckily, they're listening to us. And I think we have a really good relationship. And again, it's a lot of stress.
But we are moving the needle and doing as much as we can to try to protect everyone. So our numbers at the Institute really are pretty low. So what are you returning that to? I think our folks understand what's needed, in particular, wearing masks, the social distancing, you know, washing your hands, cleaning, disinfecting, avoiding large gatherings, staying home and sick.
It's the basics. You know, if you follow that, you flatten the curve. And the UTI has done that. And I want to applaud everyone for doing that because we have not, we don't have a cluster anywhere.
You know, we have a one-offs here and there. And it's usually because someone else they come in contact with is positive. You know, be a parent or a child. Most of our folks, I think, understand what it takes to keep this virus at bay.
So any changes to any of, for instance, travel guidelines for us or, you know, meeting sizes or anything of that nature? Not at the time. That's pretty much the same, so that's good to know. And then there's been some confusion, maybe, over the requirement about flu shots.
Is that just something that we're requiring or is that just it's in your best interest to do? Yeah, so that was something the Board of Trustees approved over the summer is a, I think it's mandatory. Everyone will get a flu shot when they're available. There are exceptions.
You can, you know, there are medical exceptions to not get the flu shot. And, you know, people are going to ask, when is the best time to get it? Right now, they're starting to think about, you know, when you move to September or October, that's the best time to get it. I do encourage people to get the flu vaccine because if you think about overlaying the flu on top of COVID, wow, that could really be a problem.
And if anyone watched Dr. Fauci this morning, he talked about the fall could be very difficult and that we need to hunker down. So a flu vaccine will hopefully take away some of these symptoms that people might think is COVID, you know, but it's flu. And then how do we handle all that if there's a surge in that?
You know, flu happens every year. It's seasonal. And it's a very serious virus as well. Absolutely.
We drew a question about will employees be required to show proof of getting that flu shot? How are you going to handle that? That would be kind of complex. That may be a question for Doug if he's on.
I'm not sure if that's going to be tracked by HR. I don't know if anybody on. Doug, are you on from HR? Hi, I'm Dave.
Yeah, thank you. And I can provide a little bit of preliminary information around that one. There's been discussion and it continues. But the indications that I have right now are that we likely will not be requiring documentation.
But to your earlier point, if people have a reason for not getting the flu shot, they are going to need to go through the same attestation process that we put in place for the people who are pursuing a flu shot and they'll need to document why, whether that be a religious accommodation or a medical accommodation of some kind. So I want to be cautious in sharing that. I want to be up front with everyone. That guidance could shift slightly between now and the time everything is put in place.
But we suspect that the attestation will likely take place in IRIS through the employee self-service function. So employees will be able to log in and complete that process on their own. Cool. Thank you, Doug.
And, Doug, will shots be available here on campus or anywhere outside of the campus or is it just going to your local pharmacy to get the shots? I don't know at this point yet, Lisa, if we're going to have the inventory available to make that available to everyone, either on campus or in their individual workplaces. So we are recommending that, at least for now, people that want to get an early start on it, go ahead and look for facilities that have the shot available. For those locations around campus or in the various workplaces across the state that have historically offered flu shots, they are continuing to pursue that option.
But, again, that's going to be dependent on the availability of inventory as well. So, for example, here on campus, CBM has a clinic that they do each fall for people to come and get the flu shot, which gets great attendance. I think last year or the year before, they ended up having to have a second one because they went through the initial inventory so quickly. So we're hoping that that is still available for everyone, but we don't know for sure yet.
Yeah, I think related to that, you know, people may be following the news in terms of where we are with the COVID vaccine. So there's three promising candidates in late-stage clinical trials. Unfortunately, one of them, if you've watched the news, AstraZeneca's did have an individual who had a neurological side effect, so that trial had stopped. But the Pfizer and Moderna phase three trials are continuing.
You know, probably people are asking, are we going to have a vaccine when? Well, it takes the time. Unfortunately, these phase three trials are usually over 30,000 people, and then they have to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the data. FDA has said that they will not approve a vaccine for COVID unless it protects 50% of the people that get it.
So there's a lot going on that has to go to the FDA, and it will probably be something called emergency use authorization, which allows them to quickly get it out. But if you look at some of the surveys out there, people are concerned about the efficacy and safety of these vaccines as they're being rushed. through. So we're going to have to watch that and, you know, talk with our primary care providers and read the insights before you get the vaccine.
If people have a question, maybe that's something to do with a follow-up Zoom at some point. Absolutely. I do have a question for Doug Launder. Doug, can you expand in on the deferred tax tax?
Yes, we have gotten word, and I'm hoping to get a message out across the Institute by the end of the day today. The state has determined that they are not going to align with the executive order from President Trump that made this offering available, and the university has decided to fully align with the state so that there's not confusion amongst the various entities that make up our employment categories. So the best way to say it at this point, I guess Lisa, is that we are not going to be participating in this offering. The feedback that we've gotten from our employees who were aware of this potentially coming down the pike was that, frankly, they preferred to not participate.
They weren't interested in doing it, but I recognize that we did have a few folks that thought this would be something they'd like to take advantage of, but it is not going to be an offering that we're pursuing, so everyone's tax deductions will continue to remain the same for the remainder of this year. Okay, well, thank you. And Dave, you both, for this has been excellent information. I think that's the end of our questions.
So, Dave, do you have any final remarks? I do. It's not related to COVID, though, if that's okay. One of the things I wanted to bring up is I think many of us remember where we were 19 years ago today.
It's a sad day for the United States. It marks 19 years since we lost thousands of lives on September 11th, and I just want to say we should never forget the ones we lost were the heroes who put their lives of others before their own. Great. I appreciate those words, and mature words were spoken.
And we thank everybody for being on today, and especially our guest, Dave. Doug, appreciate you joining in as well. So we hope everybody has a great weekend, and we will see you next week. Thank you, Lisa.
Thanks. Thanks, everybody.