Since the announcement of a student and faculty member testing positive for COVID-19 last Friday, UTRGV will continue its operation as it has been for the past month, according to a university official.
“First of all, we moved all our classes online,” said Patrick Gonzales, University Marketing & Communications associate vice president and university spokesman. “So, we wouldn’t have students congregating on campus and in large groups. We have sent most of our workforce home to work from home as well, as a precautionary measure.”
While news of the first positive cases is alarming, students, faculty and staff should remain calm, according to an email sent to the campus community last Friday from the Office of the President.
The student, who traveled out of the state, is a resident of Casa Bella Apartments on the Brownsville campus.
“The faculty member returned home to self-isolate immediately upon returning from his international trip,” the email states. “He is currently receiving care from home while following protocols from Student Health Services in coordination with the Hidalgo County Health Department.”
Gonzales said both cases are males and both personal travel.
“UTRGV has been implementing proactive measures since January to help mitigate risks for our students, faculty and staff,” according to the email. “We are still confident that these measures will allow us to minimize the amount of positive cases not only for UTRGV, but for the Rio Grande Valley community.”
Gonzales said the only services open at UTRGV are essential to the campus community, and those areas are practicing social distancing.
“We’re only allowing a few people in at a time,” Gonzales said. “Or if it’s a computer lab, every other computer is out of service to make sure there’s six feet. We’ve ramped up our custodial efforts. In communication, we just continue to communicate with our campus community the latest updates [and] reminders about taking personal precautions such as washing your hands and staying home and different things like that.”
According to a news release from the UTRGV Newsroom sent out Wednesday, other social distancing services include:
–resources for faculty, staff and students available online;
–extended campus Wi-Fi hotspots in parking lots;
–departments remaining open on campus have created boundaries for visitors to follow; and,
–the library on the Edinburg campus will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and in Brownsville from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
In other UTRGV news, as reported Tuesday by The Rider, drive-thru testing sites are available to the public and students, faculty and staff on both the Edinburg and Brownsville campuses.
According to a UTRGV news release, the School of Medicine, UT Health RGV, the Office of Congressman Vicente Gonzalez, Hidalgo and Cameron County leaders and the City of Brownsville collaborated for this service to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
The drive-thru on the Brownsville campus will operate from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. near Vaquero Plaza, on University Boulevard, and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Edinburg campus north of the Health Affairs Building West.
Gonzales said in an email Wednesday there have been a total of 456 calls from last Saturday and Sunday and a total of 118 tests done as of Tuesday, 87 in Edinburg and 31 in Brownsville.
Asked what message he has for the campus community, Gonzales replied, “There’s actually three things that I’ve been telling people. And No. 1 is stay home as much as you can. Only leave for the essential items or functions that you need.”
No. 2, Gonzales said UTRGV wants to hear the experiences from employees and students and the problems with working and attending classes remotely.
“We want to be able to … solve your issue because if we solve your issue, we’re probably solving it for others and so communicate with us,” he said. “No. 3 is, just, stay patient. You know, no one saw this coming. This was a surprise for everybody. This was a surprise for every university. Every university, including us, has put in a contingency plan that is only launched during an emergency.”
For more information about COVID-19 and UTRGV updates, visit https://www.utrgv.edu/coronavirus/index.htm.
