Coronavirus update for March 27: Working during the Stay at Home order
Dear Campus Community,
Governor Inslee’s stay-at-home order, which currently continues through April 8, and which he has already suggested may be extended further, impacts many elements of our work at Western. I hope this message will bring clarity on important questions you may have.
During the stay-at-home order, a small group of employees must be on campus carrying out mission-critical work which cannot be done remotely--for example, the vital life-safety work of our custodians, and the repair and maintenance work that keeps buildings safe. If you are a member of this group, your supervisor has communicated directly with you. You’ve also received information about screening for illness and social distancing requirements for your workplace. Faculty and others who need to be on campus to prepare or conduct online education are also specifically included in the Governor’s order, and have received information about how to proceed.
Under the governor’s order, employees who are not on that list must work from home. Staying home slows the transmission of COVID-19. It is also a way of showing respect and care for our colleagues who must be at work, by limiting extra cleaning and securing of areas as they are used, and helping to protect them and their families while they are working for all of us.
If you need to make a quick trip in and out of your office to get vital work material, you may do so. But please make as few of those trips as you can, and keep them laser-focused on getting what you need.
If you need assistance in any aspect of working from home, work with your supervisor and Human Resources. There’s a lot of great material on ATUS’s Keep Working page.
Together we are having an impact on this illness. It’s not easy to make the kinds of adjustments we’ve been making to our work and home lives day after day. But each day is genuinely an opportunity to save lives, support health care and other frontline workers, and make our community safer. It’s worth it.
With appreciation for your partnership,
Melynda Huskey
Vice President for Enrollment and Student Services
The Incident Command System team at Western has established three goals for all of our preparation and response to COVID-19: to protect life safety and minimize the spread of the coronavirus illness, to maintain – as much as possible – the continuity of Western’s operations, and to communicate with our communities as fully as possible.
Western's coronavirus information website features Frequently Asked Questions; has links to campus, regional and national resources; an archive of campus messaging and media stories about coronavirus; a new toll-free campus coronavirus information line, and more. The site is a living document, and will get frequent updates as the coronavirus situation evolves.