Chapman reimplements COVID-19 protocols after county moves to ‘medium’ risk tier

The university won’t be requiring community members to get the fall booster, and the monitors have been brought back onto campus to check daily health screenings as a result of the new tier. Photo by SIMRAH AHMAD, staff photographer

Chapman University has brought back some COVID-19 policies as the Orange County Health Care Agency (OCHCA) announces that the county moved to the “medium” risk tier.

One protocol that has been brought back is having monitors from Allied Universal check the daily health screenings at the entrances for the Leatherby Libraries, Argyros Forum and other areas that experience a high amount of traffic.

Another protocol that was reimplemented according to an email announcement from Daniele Struppa was the visitor health survey, which visitors hoping to access campus buildings or attend the university’s events are now required to fill out prior to entrance.

There is now also increased campus and surface cleaning, which will be done in restrooms and on door handles, according to Rick Turner, Chapman’s vice president for facilities management. Additionally, classrooms that are exposed to a positive case will be cleaned by a custodial disinfectant team upon notification, and this will be done in addition to the normal cleaning that classrooms already get every night.

As for the masking protocol, masks are recommended for those who are experiencing symptoms, those who test positive and those who were recently exposed to the virus. In addition, members of the Chapman community are not required to get the bi-valent Omicron booster that came out this fall. The booster addresses the original COVID-19 strain as well as the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariant lineages.

According to Struppa’s email, testing is still being done at the COVID-19 Testing Center at 145 Sycamore Avenue in Orange during weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Rinker campus’s Public Safety Office also still has testing kits.

If COVID-19 cases in Orange County continue rising and the county is moved into the “high” risk tier, there is a possibility that the COVID-19 Task Force will recommend a requirement for the new booster, according to Harold Hewitt, Chapman’s executive vice president and chief operating officer.

“If Chapman moves to requiring the new booster, then we will ask all of those who are eligible and who receive it to document it the same way they registered for all other vaccines and boosters,” Hewitt wrote in an email to The Panther. “(In addition) any eligible person choosing not to get it will be required to fill out a personal declination form.”

Either form can be filled out online, and more information about the guidelines can be found on the CU Staying Healthy website.

The re-implementation of some of these protocols comes less than two months after the university announced that these protocols would be eased in light of the county being recorded at the “low” risk tier at the time.

Jack Cohenour, a junior majoring in creative producing, currently works as a COVID-19 compliance officer for film sets, and he also has a contact tracing certification that extends beyond film. 

He told The Panther that he does not feel bringing back the daily health screenings will work in preventing the spread of COVID-19. Additionally, he’s also noticed that the back door entrance to the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts does not have anyone stationed there to check health screenings, a similar observation he’s noticed with other secondary entrances to buildings.

“Those screenings do absolutely nothing because anyone who wants to can just lie on their health screening (and) the moment you step inside of a space, there are no policies surrounding things like masks or social distancing inside the spaces,” Cohenour said. “To me, (the screenings are) much more of a cosmetic change, as opposed to if they were to say, ‘For the next three weeks, we all have to wear masks in class again.’ That is something that would actually help stop the spread of COVID-19.”

As of Sept. 8, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends people, especially those more susceptible to contracting COVID-19, wear a well-fitting disposable surgical mask, a KN95 mask or an N95 mask since these all offer the highest level of protection. 

In 2021, there were also numerous studies released showing the results of the effectiveness of masking, in which surgical masks were a common topic.

Cohenour said that if the university adopts a vaccination/booster mandate once again, it would need to be “a lot pickier” on the exemption letters and personal declination form requests it receives. Cohenour told The Panther he knows people who cannot get the vaccine for medical reasons, and as a COVID-19 compliance officer, he has received exemption letters from both these individuals as well as other individuals who claim to be medical professionals.

“There needs to be new rules put in place as to what can constitute an exemption letter in order to make sure someone is truly at a medical risk for needing an exemption and not someone who just doesn’t believe in the ethics of the vaccine choosing to find someone who will stand with them and write them a note,” Cohenour said.

Sophomore Owen Lucas Agbayani, an English literature major, said he thinks the university could do more than just bringing back the daily health screenings since these are self-reported and users can sometimes experience technical difficulties when trying to access them.

Agbayani said he feels that Chapman could keep offering COVID-19 vaccine booster pop-up clinics, but have them open longer, especially since students may not be able to visit during the times they’re open.

Most of the booster clinics that have been hosted throughout 2022 have typically been open on two different days and last no more than three hours, according to emails sent out to the Chapman community. Only one clinic held this year was open for seven hours.

“I feel like offering COVID-19 boosters and COVID-19 vaccines for a longer time would give (people) more safety against or (more) peace of mind because (they would know) that option is always there for students rather than having to anticipate the next time that they’re available,” Agbayani said.

Both Chapman and the OCHCA made their respective announcements based on what the CDC determined to be the appropriate tier after looking at the new hospital admissions per a population of 100,000 and the percentage of beds occupied by patients who have been diagnosed with COVID-19. These data points are looked at in conjunction with the case rate per population of 100,000.

“The worsening COVID-19 Community Level indicates a higher risk for more individuals to catch COVID-19 this winter,” OCHCA County Health Officer Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong stated in the announcement. “In order to reduce the potential for increased hospitalizations, the community is encouraged to take extra precautions to protect those at higher risks. This includes getting vaccinated and masking up when indoors.”

In order to move back to the “low” risk tier, the CDC would have to review, from the past seven days, the new hospital admissions and patient occupancy percentage based on the case rate per the same population. If both data points are below the thresholds set for a “medium” risk risk tier, OC will be able to move back to the “low” risk tier.