The university has altered plans to increase in-person, on-campus events hosted by student organizations after a spike in COVID-19 cases on campus in the last two weeks.
As of March 29, St. Joe’s had 107 active cases of COVID-19.
According to a March 25 university announcement from Cary Anderson, Ed.D., associate provost and vice president of Student Life, because of an “upward trend” in cases, all on-campus dining will be grab-and-go, “certain interactive university events” will be postponed and other events will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Following the announcement, University Student Senate’s “Meet The Senate” event was postponed and Campus Ministry’s “Connect” was canceled. Connect was a weekend-long service event that was being held in place of the popular spring break Appalachian Experience (APEX), which was canceled this year due to COVID-19. Connect was set to take place March 26-28.
Anderson wrote in response to written questions from The Hawk that the tightened protocols will remain in place for a few days after students return from break.
Beth Hagovsky, Ed.D., director of Student Leadership & Activities, said the steps the university is taking will hopefully reduce the spread of the virus on campus before Easter break.
“We have to be mindful of the situations that increase the opportunity for the virus to spread,” Hagovsky said. “We’re tapping the brakes, we’re not coming to a complete stop.”
Hagovsky said the best way for students to ensure their events are not canceled is to continue to stay vigilant in their safety efforts.
“A lot of people are getting vaccinated and it’s warmer and we’re tired of this, but the virus has not gone away,” Hagovsky said. “It’s not going to until we all continue to follow the rules and get vaccinated and do whatever else we need to do to mitigate the spread of it.”
On March 11, Anderson wrote in response to written questions from The Hawk that the university had been moving to allow more in-person events in compliance with city restrictions.
“We will begin phasing in the ability to hold in-person meetings at 15% occupancy for indoor and 20% occupancy for outdoor meetings,” Anderson said at that time. “However, all mitigation protocols must be followed such as masking at all times, maintaining six feet distance, and no indoor food or beverages.”
Rising cases in Philadelphia have also impacted plans to further lift restrictions in the city itself. As of March 29, Philadelphia had 129,077 total cases of COVID-19.
On March 23, Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley announced the city would not be aligning itself with the state’s relaxed restrictions that are set to go into effect on April 4. The state is set to increase indoor capacity limits to 25%, and outdoor limits to 50%. Instead, the city is sticking to 15% indoor capacity and 20% outdoor capacity.
Many St. Joe’s student organizations jumped at the opportunity to hold in-person events. Previously underutilized campus spaces, specifically the Maguire Wolfington Welcome Center lawn on the corner of Cardinal and City Avenues, have made it possible for groups to host larger in-person events outdoors, Hagovsky said.
“You don’t realize just how big it is, and the limit over there at this point is so big that we don’t have to worry about doing an event,” Hagovsky said.
For most student organizations, in-person events this spring would be the first time they could meet in person in over a year.
Sierra Long ’21, president of the African-Caribbean Student Association (ACSA), said ACSA has had to get creative with their events. The ACSA Fashion Show, their largest event of the year, had to be canceled last March. However, this year ACSA was able to pre-record the show at a studio off campus, and then show it on campus on March 26.
“A lot of organizations are held back by COVID,” Long said. “With Zoom, I just didn’t feel a connection personally, so being able to go off campus, it made a big difference.”
Hagovsky said moving forward with the plan that Anderson outlined earlier this month hinges on the results of post-Easter break testing. Upon returning from the break, all residential students are required to be tested on April 7 or April 8 in the tent outside the Maguire Wolfington Welcome Center.
“Obviously the testing will have a significant weight on whatever decisions are made,” Hagovsky said. “So when students come back on that Tuesday, when they start doing the tests on Wednesday and Thursday, there is a possibility that on Friday morning Dr. Anderson might have to make that unfortunate call again to say, ‘Look, our numbers are not where they should be.’”
Anderson said based on the results of those tests, “the hope is to resume activity” the weekend of April 9.
