On July 29, Orange County Health Director Quintana Stewart submitted a letter to UNC campus leadership urging the university to begin the semester with virtual classes due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The letter was shared with the county’s Board of Commissioners on Monday, August 3 and has since gone viral on social media.
Read the letter from Stewart below, as well as follow-up messages from UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz, local elected officials, and more.
Orange County Health Department
To: UNC Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Provost Bob Blouin, and Vice Chancellor George Battle
From: Quintana Stewart, MPA, Health Director
Subject: Public Health Recommendations for Fall 2020 Reopening Plans
Date: July 29, 2020
Stewart submitted a letter to UNC campus leadership calling for the university to hold virtual classes for at least the first five weeks of the semester and restrict on-campus housing to at-risk students with no access to equitable educational resources and those with true housing needs.
As UNC’s campus begins to reopen, Stewart said Orange County officials have seen increased activity in areas normally frequented by college students.
“We’ve experienced the increased activity and gathering on Franklin Street that resulted in clusters that visited a couple of local restaurant/bar establishments,” Stewart said. “We’ve seen the off campus parties and gatherings at Greek Houses. We’ve also experienced the lack of cooperation from students with the communicable disease investigation and control measures mandated by NC General Statute 130A-144.”
UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz
To: Carolina Community
From: UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz
Subject: Message from Chancellor Guskiewicz on letter from the Orange County Health Department
Date: August 5, 2020
“It is important to note that we have had a very cooperative and collegial working relationship with the OCHD for many years,” Guskiewicz said in his letter to the Carolina community.
Guskiewicz said that while the letter was not an order or a mandate for the university to take specific action, campus leadership “took their recommendations very seriously.”
Campus leadership also met with Stewart and the Orange County Medical Director Dr. Erica Pettigrew.
“During the call, I updated them with our progress toward campus de-densification as well as other initiatives we are employing throughout our campus to create a safe learning and working environment,” Guskiewicz said. “I also reiterated that we believe we are well prepared for the start of the fall semester and we will continue to track trends that could lead us to recommend a modification to our plans.”
Orange County Elected Officials
To: UNC Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Provost Bob Blouin, and Vice Chancellor George Battle
From: Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger, Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle, Hillsborough Mayor Jenn Weaver, Orange County Commissioner Penny Rich
Subject: Public Health Recommendations for Fall 2020 Reopening Plans
Date: August 5, 2020
Local elected officials from Orange County sent a letter to UNC leadership calling upon the university to follow recommendations from health officials.
“One trend that concerns us, especially as UNC students return to the area is the high percentage of positive cases being reported among younger individuals,” the letter said. “This is particularly troubling in light of UNC student behaviors over the summer which were documented by the Orange County Health Department and UNC Campus Health staffs, and, also, because of the large number of students who live off-campus, often in high- density student housing communities or congregated in neighborhoods.”
In addition, officials asked that UNC work with the Orange County Health Department to ensure that sufficient resources are available to provide testing and community contact tracing for all UNC students and staff who have been exposed to COVID-19.
UNC Faculty
To: UNC Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz and Provost Bob Blouin
From: Chair of the UNC-Chapel Hill faculty Dr. Mimi Chapman
Subject: Dismay that the UNC faculty was not made aware of Orange County Health recommendations
Date: August 5, 2020
The chair of the UNC-Chapel Hill faculty Dr. Mimi Chapman sent a letter to Guskiewicz and Blouin expressing “dismay” that faculty were not made aware of Orange County’s recommendations regarding the campus reopening.
“It feels like a serious breach of trust to have kept such recommendations from the campus community of faculty, staff and students,” wrote Chapman.
Chapman referenced incidents on campus already of people not wearing masks or social distancing and said her class that was planned to be delivered in person will be changed to be remote.
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