A Message from the President

August 12, 2020

COVID-19 Alert: Freshman Move-in, Testing Protocols, Daily Screening & BSU COVID-19 Videos

 

The Fall 2020 Return-to-Campus Workgroup is gearing up to welcome new and returning students to the campus for a safe and successful start to the academic year. The first students to return to the campus are the incoming freshman students who will live on campus. Much preparation is being made to bring them to the campus safely and introduce them to the traditions and spirit of the Bowie State University experience.

Freshman Move-in
First-year students who plan to live on campus will move into the residence halls August 17-21. All residential students are required to take a COVID-19 test within 10-14 days and submit their results to the Wellness Center before coming onto the campus. Once they arrive on campus, residential students will be tested for COVID-19 again by the Wellness Center. Each student will be assigned a 2-hour window when they can move into their residences, with a limited number of guests who are allowed to help.

The Student Affairs Division has planned a host of in-person and virtual activities for the students during move-in week, including game nights.

Testing Protocols
All students, faculty and staff are required to take a COVID-19 test within 10-14 days of returning to comply with the University System of Maryland mandate. On-campus testing will be provided for the university community, and information about where to find COVID-19 testing centers near you is available on the COVID-19 web section.

Employees and students are expected to report their results in the following ways:


Daily Symptom-screening
All employees are expected to complete the daily symptom-screening survey that they receive by email around 4 a.m. Even those who are planning to telework must complete the online form. Supervisors are notified when individual employees do not complete the form.

The health data and contact information submitted by employees is not saved daily, which is why the form asks each time for employees to enter it into the form. Dr. Rita Wutoh, director of the Henry Wise Wellness Center and a medical doctor, receives the survey submissions daily and follows up with employees if they report COVID-19-like symptoms. If you have additional questions about how the data is used, please visit the FAQ page in the COVID-19 web section.

BSU-created COVID-19 Videos
As part of the university’s COVID-19 communications plan, we have developed several BSU videos to help students and employees know how to protect themselves and each other from COVID-19. The first of several videos is posted to the Instructional Videos page in the COVID-19 web section.

We are looking forward to an exciting and productive fall semester. As always, if you have questions, please email covid19@bowiestate.edu.