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COVID19 Response

As the worldwide response to the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, the management team at CityU is monitoring the situation daily and adhering to advisories from the B.C. Provincial Health Officer. We are committed to doing our best to provide a safe environment for our students, faculty, and staff while continuing to deliver quality education to our students.

Active Health Screening: Effective immediately, November 7th to November 21st, 2020, the Public Health Officer has issued an order for all workplace in the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health Region requiring staff to receive an active health screening prior to entering the workplace.

This means the employer has to ask employees questions about their health status and COVID-19 daily when they first attend the workplace for their shift. Some of these questions may sound personal but they are important to help ensure the health and safety of all of us in the workplace, help bend the curve and are now the law.

Employees will only have to answer the questions when their workday/shift commences. To better facilitate the active health screening, Cityu”s Site Supervisor,  will be the designated staff member, to perform the screening questionnaire. Only one of the entrance doors will be assigned to enter CityU Vancouver. There will be signs to remind staff to use only the designated door. After entering the office please proceed to the reception area where you will conduct the screening questionnaire.

Active health screening augments our COVID-19 workplace assessment, safety plan and protocols that we all must continue to follow when in the workplace. CityU wants to remind all staff that they must not come to work if they are ill or feeling unwell or if you begin to feel unwell at work they must leave immediately. 

Active health screening is effective November 7th 2020 until November 21st or until the Provincial Health Officer makes any changes to the order. If you have any questions, please contact CovidResponseBC@cityu.edu 

Education Delivery

At this time and to facilitate campus operations CityU has temporarily replaced our in-person instruction with a primarily remote teaching and learning model, with the vast majority of course offerings occurring via remote technology.

Preparing for Returning to Campus

This update describes the measures being implemented to prepare for returning to campus. At the moment students remain attending classes online.

Safety Measures

Following WorkSafe BC’s guidelines on planning for COVID-19 preparedness, a review has been conducted of risks of exposure or transmission at the school and the protective measures that are being implemented.

COVID-19 symptoms are similar to other respiratory illnesses including flu and common cold. Symptoms include:

  • Fever
  • Chills
  • Cough
  • Shortness of breath
  • Sore throat
  • Stuffy or runny nose
  • Loss of sense of smell 
  • Headache
  • Muscle aches
  • Fatigue
  • Loss of appetite

Before Arriving on Campus or to Community Learning Settings: All Faculty, Students, and Staff are required to:

  • Complete an orientation to safety plan protocols for in-person learning in the form of this PowerPoint orientation before returning to campus. 
  • Conduct daily self-assessment for symptoms using one of the recommended self-assessment tools:
  • Practice good hygiene etiquette at all times 
  • Stay home if they are sick, symptomatic, or required to self-isolate

If Faculty, Students, or Staff develop symptoms while on campus:

  1. If faculty, students, or staff develop symptoms while on campus or attending class they must arrange to get home safely and notify their Instructor or Supervisor via e-mail.
  2. They are advised not to use public transportation or ride-sharing services and avoid using a taxi if possible. 
  3. At the CityU campus, an isolation area for students/faculty/staff will be available for individuals who cannot drive themselves home and must wait to be picked up.
  4. If students become sick while in a community/school setting, their Instructor will find a place for them to safely wait for a ride home.
Contact Tracing and Documentation

To assist public health agencies with contact tracing in the event of positive cases of COVID-19, CityU has implemented the following documentation protocols: 

  • If Employees develop symptoms while on campus they are required to complete and submit the Symptomatic Staff/Faculty Report
  •  If students develop symptoms while on campus, the Instructor fills out and submits the Symptomatic Student Report
  • Any employee, faculty member, or student who has been made aware by health services that they have tested positive or are required to self- isolate due to exposure must contact City University in Canada’s Covid Response Team via e-mail:

Students, faculty members and staff can request time off as needed using the online Time Off Request Form 

Visitors must check in and out at front desk, providing:

  • Entry time
  • Exit time
  • Rooms visited on campus
  • Contact telephone number and email address.

As mentioned above, staff and students are required to complete a return to campus orientation and engage in daily self-assessment.

Contact tracing of all positive cases will be undertaken by the local public health agency. 

Additional Preparations on Campus

We are also making some additional preparations on campus to prepare for students and staff to return to campus. The following preparations are in place or will be implemented over the coming weeks:

WHAT TO EXPECT – LEVELS OF PROTECTION

  • The promotion of safe physical distancing between people as recommended by the Provincial Health Officer
  • Policies and procedures to reduce the number of prolonged close contacts among faculty, staff and students
  • Engineering controls including physical barriers/plexiglass in some locations 
  • Established rules and guidelines, such as sanitation and cleaning protocols
  • Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)/Non-medical mask protocols

WHAT TO EXPECT – OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM

  • Designated main entrance/exit doors 
  • Established protocols and signage for lobbies, common areas, washrooms, elevators 
  • Occupancy limits 
  • Floor signage for queuing 
  • Adherence to established protocols and guidelines for classrooms in community/school settings that may be unique to those settings

WHAT TO EXPECT – INSIDE THE CLASSROOM

  • Sanitation protocols 
  • Seating instructions 
  • More signage / instructions 
  • Physical distancing rules and guidelines 
  • Adherence to established protocols and guidelines for classrooms in community/school settings that may be unique to those settings

CLEANING AND HYGIENE
 

  • General classrooms will be cleaned and disinfected daily according to CityU or community/school setting protocols 
  • High-touch surfaces will be cleaned in between classes, including door handles, chair arms and tables 
  • Hand sanitizer will be available in all classrooms 
  • Cleaning protocols will be implemented according to Provincial safe work plan guidelines

  • SWPs will be posted in each classroom 
  • SWPs will include protocols and instructions for each room 
  • Instructors who are teaching in a classroom should become familiar with the plans upon arrival and should orient their students to the protocols on the first day of classes 
  • Adherence to established SWP protocols and guidelines will also be followed for classrooms in community / school settings. These settings may include specific protocols that are unique to the facility.
Outbreak Response

In the case of an outbreak, staff, faculty, and students may not report to campus while experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, including, cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, fever, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, digestive upset, headache, or body/muscle aches. 

Staff, faculty, and students who are exposed to a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 should voluntarily self-isolate for 14 days.  

Staff, faculty, and students who test positive for Covid-19 after having attended campus: 

Confirmed cases reported to CityU are tracked, monitored, and assessed to manage possible risk to community members, to assist the public health agencies in contact tracing, and to prevent any potential spread of COVID-19. 

Any staff, faculty member, or student who receives a laboratory confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 infection is asked to notify City University’s Covid-19 Response Team.

In the event that City University in Canada is notified of a confirmed case, the Covid-19 Response Team will:

  • Perform an intake process with the individual to confirm details of possible onsite exposure
  • Investigate the details of the reported case
  • Communicate exposure risk to impacted staff, faculty, and students, who will then be expected to self-isolate and abstain from returning to campus for 14 days to monitor for symptoms
  • Initiate enhanced disinfection of all potentially affected onsite spaces
  • Contact the local health authority to establish plans that reduce the risk of further transmission
  • Support the local health authority in contact tracing

Operations and academics may be moved to the virtual environment until such a time that the campus can be appropriately sanitized and risk of continued exposure is limited. The length of such a move will be determined based on the individual context for each exposure and recommendations from the local health authorities. 

Information Links:

BC Centre for Disease Control
http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19

BC Provincial Health Officer
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/about-bc-s-health-care-system/office-of-the-provincial-health-officer/current-health-topics

Any questions or concerns, please direct to:

Maintenance and Monitoring of the Safety Plan

This Safety Plan is based on current recommendations and may change. CityU will continue to monitor health information from the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control and the latest COVID- 19 updates from the Government of British Columbia, and implement changes to the Safety Plan as required.

If you have a question or concern:

Concerns for safety on campus should be reported to campus security. Questions about COVID-19 safety planning may be directed to CovidResponseBC@cityu.edu

Faculty, staff and students with questions or concerns about institutional exposure to COVID-19 can call WorkSafeBC’s Prevention Information Line at 604.276.3100 in the Lower Mainland (toll-free within B.C. at 1.888.621.SAFE). Prevention officers will provide answers to questions and, if required, a prevention officer will be assigned to assess the health and safety risk at an institution.