COVID-19 Environment Level Plagued with Transparency Issues
When students, faculty, and staff returned to campus last fall, the state of the pandemic was uncertain. Even as cautiously optimistic students and professors returned to the classroom, the fear of being forced back onto Zoom lingered in the back of everyone’s minds. Since nobody knew what to expect at the time, the administration implemented a number of restrictions and guidelines to give us the best possible chance of preventing spikes and remaining on campus. These efforts were spearheaded by the COVID-19 Committee.
One of the many actions taken by the committee was to establish a COVID-19 Environment Level dashboard to reflect the state of the pandemic on W&L’s campus. The Environment Level can be set to red, yellow, or green, depending on how much risk COVID-19 poses to the W&L community. (Level Yellow can also be set to low, mid, or high depending on relative risk.) Though frequently mocked by students, the Environment Level dashboard provides a convenient snapshot of the pandemic’s impact on campus.
As part of the initial return to campus in the fall, the COVID-19 Committee provided definitions for each indicator color level. Factors that could put the university in Environment Level Red included:
“Substantial rise in new COVID-19 cases among W&L population.
Large scale outbreak has become more difficult to manage, contain, and contact trace.
Inability to rapidly isolate new cases.
The SHC [Student Health Center] and local healthcare system unable to provide sufficient assessment and testing in a timely manner.”
The definition of Environment Level Yellow, in which W&L has remained in some form for most of the year, included:
“Isolated cases on campus.
Effectively managed and contained through contact tracing and sanitation measures.
Sufficient ability to isolate/quarantine new cases.
The SHC and local healthcare system are able to assess and test people with illness symptoms in a timely manner.”
Environment Level Green had the shortest definition:
“Post pandemic. A proven, FDA-approved vaccine is widely available to the community.”
Though three vaccines have received Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA, W&L has never been at Environment Level Green. In Virginia, everyone 16 older has been eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in Virginia since April 18th.
These definitions were available on the W&L website for all of Fall Term, but they were removed shortly before students returned in January. According to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, the last time the Environment Level page contained the definitions was January 1st. By January 8th, the definitions were gone.
In response to two emails, sent on March 23rd and March 25th, asking why the descriptions were removed, the COVID-19 Committee replied:
“Last semester the COVID-19 Resources website did include an explanation of the green, yellow, and red environmental indicator levels. When the COVID-19 Committee updated the community values, guidelines and safety measures, and environment level indicators for this term based on what we learned last term, we opted not to include the level descriptions as they were outdated and did not accurately reflect the levels based on the new indicators.”
On April 4th, I sent follow-up questions asking why the previous descriptions were outdated, whether the change was communicated to the W&L community, and what the new standard was for moving into Environment Level Green.
These questions went unanswered for a month despite five additional follow-up emails, sent on April 8th, April 12th, April 14th, April 26th, and May 4th. On May 4th, Drewry Sackett, a member of the COVID-19 Committee, promised to answer the questions shortly.
The reply (which was greatly appreciated) came on the morning of May 6th:
“At the start of Fall Term, the COVID-19 Committee established the environment levels and operational indicators as a means of tracking data related to critical areas of operation required to deliver on-campus instruction. We created the red, green, and yellow indicator to provide an easy, visual way for the campus community to see the overall landscape based on the operational indicators, and we defined the levels at that time based on the information we had regarding our ability to maintain critical operations at differing levels.
At the end of Fall Term, the committee undertook a thorough review of the university’s response to the pandemic in order to make adjustments based on what we learned, which resulted in a much more streamlined and simple approach, as well as a greatly expanded COVID Care Team and testing program, for Winter and Spring Terms. This was reflected in the back to campus communications, and in the updated COVID-19 Resources website. As part of that process, we refined the operational indicators based on our experience managing through several months of active virus transmission on our campus, and removed the outdated definitions of the environment levels.”
In a January 7th email to undergraduate students, the COVID-19 Committee wrote, “Information about the Environment Level, including updated indicators being monitored by the COVID-19 Committee, can be found on the Environment Level page of the COVID-19 Resources website.”
Prior to the removal of the definitions the Environment Level page listed 13 “Key Indicators” used to assess COVID-19 risk. In conjunction with the removal of the definitions, the indicators were changed to 12 “Operational Indicators.” Thus, while the W&L community was vaguely informed of a change in the indicators, at no point were we explicitly informed that the Environment Level definitions used during Fall Term were outdated.
Moreover, the university currently lacks a clear standard for moving into Environment Level Green. Asked what the standard is, Sackett answered:
“The committee continues to review all of the operational indicators weekly and set the environment level accordingly, and we all very much look forward to the day when we recommend moving the environment level to green. We’re encouraged by the widespread availability of the FDA emergency authorized COVID-19 vaccines in our area and encourage all of our students, faculty, and staff to get vaccinated, as reaching a high level of vaccination among our community is one of the key factors that will help us get to green.”
W&L is currently at Level Yellow-Low, but calls to move W&L into Level Green have grown in recent weeks. As of May 9th, 71.9 percent of undergraduate students, 67.2 percent of employees, and 65.8 percent of law students report being either partially or fully vaccinated. These figures only reflect those who have reported receiving a COVID-19 vaccine to the school and do not account for those who may be immune due to having been infected with COVID-19.
Additionally, there have been just seven positive cases on campus since April 1st – a period of time that includes the return from undergraduate spring break. Only one of the seven was an undergraduate, the group most responsible for spreading COVID-19 on campus this year.
The COVID-19 Committee deserves a tremendous amount of praise and credit for keeping students on campus. Without their hard work and dedication, it is very possible that W&L would have had to revert to virtual learning. However, recognizing and appreciating the value of this work does not excuse the troubling lack of transparency displayed at various points throughout the year.
During the final few weeks of Spring Term, it is vital that the committee communicate with W&L students, faculty, and staff in a transparent and forthright manner. As vaccination rates continue to increase among the W&L community, the important work done by the COVID-19 Committee should draw to a close. Though the school year will soon be over, clear and honest communication is necessary in order to maintain and improve trust in the administration.
[The opinions expressed in this magazine are the author's own and do not reflect the official policy or position of The Spectator, or any students or other contributors associated with the magazine. It is the intention of The Spectator to promote student thought and civil discourse, and it is our hope to maintain that civility in all discussions.]