Message regarding Student Wellness from the CEE Chair, Lauren Lowes:

I hope that you had a healthy, restful and fun winter break and that the first week of winter quarter is off to a good start. As has been the case many other times during the COVID pandemic, right now the situation seems to be changing rapidly. Following are a few thoughts, reminders and items that I want to share:

• A primary goal for CEE, COE and UW this quarter is to ensure that you all have a pathway to successfully completing your classes, even if you are required to quarantine (possibly multiple times) and even if you get sick, though obviously it is my greatest hope that none of you gets sick. To achieve this goal of a pathway to success, I have asked instructors to provide options to enable students who cannot come to lecture, quiz sections, lab session to continue their classwork … and asked that instructors clearly communicate these options to you. In particular, I recommended that faculty record lectures and post the recordings. Please look through your class syllabi and canvas sites tonight to see what options your instructors are providing for remote participation in your classes, and if you cannot find the information, ask them for it. If you are concerned that you will not be able to successfully complete your course, given the options provided to you, send me an email.
• At this time, all classes that were originally identified as “in-person” when you registered will move to in-person next week. However, it may be necessary for some of these classes to move online for short periods of time during the quarter to accommodate various circumstances. If this causes significant disruption, please email me to let me know.
• Please improve or maintain high quality masking as discussed and presented here: UW info, CDC recommendations here, CIDRAP here. The table below from the CIDRAP article is particularly compelling for improving your masking from a single cloth or surgical paper mask to an N95 mask:
• As always, make time to take care of yourself; the Husky Health and Well-Being website provides a variety of resources: https://wellbeing.uw.edu/

Wishing you a healthy and happy 2022 that starts with a happy and healthy winter quarter.