Penn State buys 500K masks, but final decision on fall reopening will not come until next month
Penn State has purchased 500,000 masks and plans to install 2,500 sanitizer stations — which will be placed at the entrance of every building and classroom — but university officials reiterated Tuesday they will not make a final decision on reopening in the fall until next month.
Speaking in a virtual town hall, university President Eric Barron said Penn State is still operating as if it will reopen in the fall. But, he added, that decision is not firm and will not be finalized until June 15.
“There’s a lot to do between now and then,” Barron said Tuesday. “The idea is that we gather this information, we get an understanding of where we sit — what our capability is — how we can do it safely, and then we will come up to June 15 ... as a look to see whether or not something may stop us from” reopening in the fall.
As part of the virtual town hall, several officials discussed the university’s overall response to COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Although many specifics were not addressed due to the changing nature of the virus — such as potential voluntary staff retirements, layoffs, employee screenings, etc. — officials offered an overview on what’s been done already and what to look for in the future.
At the heart of the issue surrounding a potential fall reopening is just how Penn State might prepare for that inevitable first COVID-19 case upon reopening. Matthew Ferrari, a researcher in Penn State’s Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, said the university’s Public Health and Science Assessment task force is currently in talks about the steps it’ll take when that happens.
Contact tracing will be paramount, he said. And the task force is currently discussing how it will isolate the infected and quarantine those who came in contact with the infected.
Because an on-campus case could also be asymptomatic, or show no outward signs of infection, Ferrari also said Penn State would like to ramp up testing. “We’re considering offering testing to employees that look and feel healthy,” he added.
The university currently boasts three task groups — Public Health and Science Assessment, Return to Work, and Return to Campus and Community — in addition to 12 other action groups, which range from “Communications” to “Athletics, camps and other large events.” One task group, for example, has about 30 senior faculty members that are further broken into smaller committees to better address all the issues.
Barron said they’re all working to address as many of the specifics as possible before reopening.
“We’re not making abrupt announcements,” he said. “We’re not sitting there saying, ‘This is what we’re doing’ or ‘This is not what we’re going to do.’ We’re taking this one step at a time, and we’re doing this as a community.”
The university has already lost well over $100 million due to the pandemic. And, according to the state Department of Health, there are currently 49 confirmed positive cases of the coronavirus within the immediate area surrounding the University Park campus — in the ZIP codes 16801, 16802 and 16803.
