Gage Johnson
Editor-in-Chief
gjohnson17@murraystate.edu
Daniella Tebib
News Editor
dtebib@murraystate.edu
Updated March 11, 2020 at 7:47 p.m.
President Bob Jackson sent an email On Wednesday, March 11, alerting the campus community that after students return from Spring Break on Monday, March 23, face-to-face instruction will be prohibited and courses will continue online or through alternative methods until April 5.
While classes will move online, Murray State’s campus and regional campuses will remain open and staff operations will continue as usual during this period. Faculty, staff and teaching assistants will participate in online training on Friday, March 13, to properly provide online instruction for students.
The University’s Coronavirus Work Group will continue to meet daily and evaluate future plans and decisions before April 3.
The World Health Organization announced on Wednesday, March 11, that the COVID-19 coronavirus is now a global pandemic and WHO officials expect the number of cases, the number of deaths and the number of affected countries to climb even higher than they already are.
The News sat down with President Jackson and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Bob Hughes on Tuesday, March 10, for an in-depth interview regarding the University’s response to the worldwide coronavirus outbreak. There are no reported cases at Murray State or in the Western Kentucky region as of press time.
“The big issue is the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff,” Jackson said. “We’re making decisions based on that…for no other reasons.”
The University administration has set up www.murraystate.edu/healthupdate as a centralized communication hub to provide important information regarding the coronavirus as it relates to the campus community.
“Murray State has been planning, again, for weeks and trying to make good decisions and I think today we have,” Jackson said. “I am proud of the team that’s been in this room for hours on occasion helping make those decisions.”
University travel halted
All international travel was halted in February and all non-essential domestic University travel was suspended as of Tuesday, March 10, through at least April 30. Jackson said he and the vice presidents will determine what is considered essential travel which could include athletic travel.
“No unit will be singled out because there are certain trips that may be essential,” he said. “I suspect there will be very few of those [essential trips]. I know the NCAA to the point of athletics is looking at all this very closely and I think will be assisting us in the days to come as well as the Ohio Valley Conference.”
At 3:32 p.m. on Wednesday, March 11, NCAA President Mark Emmert announced that the men’s and women’s basketball NCAA Tournament will not have fans in attendance because of the possibility of the virus spreading.
“The NCAA continues to assess the impact of COVID-19 in consultation with public health officials and our COVID-19 advisory panel,” Emmert said. “Based on their advice and my discussions with the NCAA Board of Governors, I have made the decision to conduct our upcoming championship events, including the Division I men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, with only essential staff and limited family attendance.”
You can find Emmert’s official statement here.
Spring Break
Jackson said he is asking all faculty, staff and students to reconsider spring break travel in an effort to limit the exposure to the coronavirus. He is also requesting anyone from the campus community who is traveling outside of Murray for Spring Break to fill out a voluntary travel form to let the institution know where they plan to travel.
Filling out the form is important, Jackson said, in the event a location visited by a member of the campus community has an outbreak. The recommendation to reconsider travel is not just related to international travel.
“I would not recommend highly populated, high-risk areas in this country,” Jackson said. “Seattle would probably not be a great place to go. Do we have students traveling there? I hope not. I’m going to do everything I can to discourage that in my role and we’re going to do that on behalf of the institution as well. Other institutions are doing this as well too, just for good practice and from a health and safety standpoint.”
The University’s work group met on Tuesday, March 10, via conference call with the Council on Postsecondary Education and other college and university presidents in Kentucky to discuss how each institution is handling preparations.
“Every campus is managing their campus and they’re all very different,” Jackson said. “They’re going to make different decisions at different times. Our system in Kentucky is very independent and we operate autonomously in regard to our decision making. For the most part everyone is on the same page doing what is best for their campus and their students, faculty and staff in a very thoughtful manner.”
Kentucky colleges and universities
Berea College, a private liberal arts college in Berea, Kentucky, has suspended the remainder of the academic semester and canceled graduation services. Students are required to leave campus by Saturday, March 14.
The University of Kentucky announced on Wednesday, March 11, that classes will move to an online format following that institution’s Spring Break for at least two weeks.
The University of Louisville is extending Spring Break through March 17 and will then move to online instruction through at least April 5.
Bellarmine University, also in Louisville, Kentucky, announced it would move to online instruction through at least April 1.
Western Kentucky University held a press conference on Wednesday, March 11, to announce that they are extending Spring Break by one week and then will spend two weeks online-only.
Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky is extending its spring break through March 18 and will then move all classes to online from March 19 through April 3.
Eastern Kentucky University is extending its spring break for a week to allow faculty to adapt to online classes. Following spring break, classes will move online until April 3.
Gov. Beshear response
Gov. Andy Beshear held a press conference on Wednesday, March 11, to announce what courses of action the state plans to take to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
As of press time, the state has received results for 54 reported cases with 46 of those cases being negative. However, eight people in Kentucky have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. The positive cases include five people in Harrison County, which are all connected. There are also two people in Fayette County (Lexington) and one person in Jefferson County (Louisville) who have tested positive. These eight individuals have been quarantined—four are in medical facilities and four are at home.
To help individuals receive the proper medical care, on Monday, March 9, Beshear issued an executive order to prohibit price gouging. On Tuesday, March 10, Beshear issued another executive order to waive copays, deductibles, cost-sharing and diagnostic testing fees for private insurance and state employees.
According to the press release, Beshear:
- Instructed school districts to be prepared to close on short notice, as short as 72 hours.
- Announced all state prisons are closed to visitors.
- Encouraged every individual in Kentucky, in particular those over 60 and those with chronic medical conditions, to do what they can to avoid large gatherings and minimize time in groups and public spaces.
- Canceled the Governor’s Prayer Breakfast out of an abundance of caution.
- Asked places of worship to cancel services temporarily due to the proximity.
- Suspended out-of-state travel for state employees.
- Urged more businesses to allow employees to telecommute and to provide paid sick leave.
- Asked people to spread out in meeting and work spaces by increasing distance between seats and taking other similar actions.
If you get sick
Students who are worried they may be experiencing symptoms related to the coronavirus, but cannot afford to go to Health Services or other physican’s offices, can be seen at Health Services for free.
“If they can’t afford to go to Health Services then we’ll see them for free,” Hughes said. “We’ll take care of that. I’ll call the shot on that one.”
Despite the recommendation from the University to reconsider travel for Spring Break, some students, faculty and staff are moving forward with their plans. Jackson said if anyone returns from spring break and feels ill, they should go to Health Services immediately or another health provider.
“And if they do go to another provider, which obviously is their freedom to do so, it would be nice, as a courtesy, if they could notify Student Health as to what the findings were, what the diagnosis was,” Hughes said. “Did that person recommend self-quarantine and did they check them for coronavirus? That would be nice to know.”
Jackson and Hughes requested anyone who suspects they may have come in contact with someone diagnosed with the coronavirus to seek a health care professional immediately and notify Student Health Services.
Hughes said Primary Care Medical Center does have test kits available and those would be brought to campus if needed. There are a limited number of test kits available throughout the country and the state. Therefore, Hughes said not just anyone can be tested.
“You have to use really good judgment on who you test because number one there is a limited number of kits,” Hughes said. “Number two- if someone just decides ‘I wanna know, I want a test’ that’s not a good idea to do that because if you test someone it’s an automatic quarantine because it will be three days to get the test results back. You wouldn’t want that person going to a bunch of events in that three-day period and then you call them up and say ‘by the way, it’s positive,’ so if the index of suspicion is high enough to test, it’s high enough to quarantine.”
Physicians look at three areas of criteria to determine who should be tested. The first is whether or not they have traveled internationally to a high-risk area. Second, is if they have been exposed to someone who has received a positive diagnosis. Finally, if the patient is exhibiting any shortness of breath, although Hughes cautions this as many illnesses can cause shortness of breath.
Many of the same precautions people already take for the seasonal influenza virus are the same for the COVID-19 coronavirus. Hughes said those include washing hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and water, practice good overall hygiene, not shaking hands with others, keep a distance of at least six feet from people who are sick, stay home if you are sick and go to the doctor if you have a fever over 100.4.
“There’s always risk but the students are at very low risk, but when you start to talk about [people] 60 and above it goes up and it really goes up at 80 and above [or] if you’ve got a heart condition or other conditions,” Hughes said. “That’s not to say that you can’t get sick, but students and the pediatric group seems to be protected quite nicely, but then again, at a university everybody is close together and we just want to be careful for everybody’s sake.”
Study Abroad Programs
The Spring Break study abroad program to London, England, was canceled along with the China and South Korea semester programs. Jackson said no decisions have been made about future study abroad programs.
“These are hard decisions and a lot of thought and input and research is put into each and every one of them,” Jackson said. “We’re looking at the CDC, we’re looking at all health issues no matter where it’s published, whether the state department and on and on, to make these decisions. We haven’t gotten past trips post April 30, but I’ve asked our staff to look at what could happen very soon.”
Jackson cited the recent South Korea program cancellation as an example of how quickly decisions have to be made when it comes to study abroad. Jackson said the University had to call back four students who were at airports or on airplanes headed to South Korea.
“At least two of them were headed specifically to Daegu and I’ve been to Daegu, South Korea,” Jackson said. “It’s a beautiful area of the country by the way, but there’s a university that we have a strong partnership with, Daegu University, which was the center of the hotspot in South Korea. I’m thankful that we were able to respond and not let them land there. And Korea is still really struggling with this issue.”
According to a statement on the KIIS Facebook, they suspended all summer study abroad programs on Wednesday, March 11.
Impact on international students
While travel restrictions outside the United States continue to be put in place, students who are currently on campus from other countries are concerned about getting home and the safety and well-being of their family members. Jackson said Vice President of Student Affairs Don Robertson has been meeting with international students regularly regarding the situation.
“There is no one on this campus more caring and understanding, especially with our international students, than Dr. Robertson,” Jackson said. “So he is with them to make sure that they are fully briefed and they understand. They have fears and concerns. Some cases they have family members that are impacted. He is doing a very good job and so is Dr. Zou and others in that whole area.”
According to the enrollment facts listed on the Murray State website, international students accounted for 4 percent of the student body population in fall 2019. That translates to 345 of the 9,569 total students.
Jackson said the current recruitment efforts of international students could be impacted because of the global travel restrictions.
“It’s too early to determine if it will have an impact on fall or not,” Jackson said. “Will this virus still be at this level in fall? I don’t know. We’re recruiting very hard and continue to recruit very hard but if China is still a level 1 from the CDC in August and September it will impact us.”
Hughes said the impact would be felt equally across all universities because this is not an isolated situation.
Health Services Response
Jackson confirmed a faculty member and their spouse are nearing the end of a 14-day self-quarantine after the spouse traveled abroad. Hughes said the spouse did not travel to a level 3 country and the self-quarantine was out of an abundance of caution.
“They have exhibited no signs or symptoms of illness,” Hughes said. “We have been calling them at least every other day from Student Health to check on them.”
Jackson said he appreciated the faculty member self-notifying the university and that the couple was on day 11 or 12 as of Tuesday’s interview.
Jackson said Primary Care is going above and beyond in this unprecedented situation to ensure they are as prepared as possible should any cases of the coronavirus show up on campus.
“I really appreciate Dr. Bob Hughes and his fellow MDs and the entire staff,” Jackson said. “They’re 24/7. We can call them day or night. They’re seeing a lot of students, faculty and staff. They get paid the same if they are working at 3 a.m. or 7 a.m. and I appreciate it on behalf of this institution. Our interests are all the same…protecting campus, this community and the region and beyond the best we possibly can.”
Hughes said it is an honor to be able to serve the University even in this uncertain time, something he has never seen before.
“This is uncharted waters for me,” Hughes said. “I’ve been practicing medicine for 35 years and I’ve not seen anything like this.”
For more information on the coronavirus’ impact on campus visit www.murraystate.edu/healthupdate and follow The News on social media.