Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information and Resources

Good Morning:

Yesterday afternoon, Governor Inslee extended the Stay Home, Stay Healthy Proclamation until May 4. When the college moved to remote operations a few weeks ago, the plan was to hopefully return to campus on April 27^th.

With the extension of Governor’s proclamation, and classes being delivered online for Spring quarter, we are extending remote operations for the college until the end of Spring quarter.

Our teams in Instruction and Student Services will continue to provide the same incredible support to students, as they’ve done in-person.

Faculty, additional information is forthcoming this afternoon from the vice president for instruction.

A general instructional update will be provided later today for students and specific course information will be provided via Canvas early next week.

I am extremely proud of the creative and innovative ways all of you, our faculty and staff, have come together to serve our students remotely.

Thank you all for hanging in there with us. It means so much. We will get through this, together.

Stay well, take care of yourselves, and each other, and please stay in touch.

Amy

Dr. Amy Morrison 
President, Lake Washington Institute of Technology

Good Morning:

This week, I would like to sincerely express my gratitude for the incredible amount of thoughtful and diligent work that has taken place in the past month to ensure that our LWTech community is healthy and safe during this pandemic. While these are not normal times, starting next week I will resume emailing weekly updates through, Amy’s Update. Please be assured that I will continue to update you immediately, via email, and on the website, if there are COVID-19 updates that you should know about pertaining to our campus.

Spring Quarter Update

Our teams in Instruction and Student Services, led by vice presidents Dr. Suzanne Ames and Dr. Ruby Hayden have redesigned how best to deliver classes and support students, in countless ways. I am so appreciative and amazed by how much work, collaboration, and innovation has taken place over the past month.

Spring quarter classes will begin next Tuesday, April 7, and will be delivered entirely online. For some classes that normally require significant face-to-face instruction, the lecture component will take place online during spring quarter, and the lab time will be offered summer quarter.

Faculty continue to be creative and innovative in the ways they will be delivering online lectures, including providing video demonstrations. Faculty will be in contact with their students through each Canvas course, no later than April 7. Just to be clear, due to health and safety concerns, no face-to-face, in-person instruction will be delivered spring quarter.

Our teams in Student Services will continue to provide the same incredible support to students online, as they’ve done in-person.

Continued Support for EvergreenHealth

I’d like to thank Anthony Bowers and our team in Campus Public Safety, in partnership with Facilities, and our Allied Health division led by Dean Dr. Aparna Sen, for pulling together a second donation of PPE to our local hospital and industry partner, EvergreenHealth.

Final Thoughts during this “Spring Break”

As our students and faculty are on spring break, we all know that this “break” looks very different in so many ways this year. Instead of spending time physically with family and friends, traveling near and far, or working, they are home planning for what the next few months will look like, in ways they may have never thought imaginable. I continue to be incredibly grateful to our students and faculty for remaining so flexible and dedicated during this unprecedented time.

We are on the right path forward through this crisis. We, together, have created an equitable learning and working environment for our students, and each other. We will get through this crisis together and we will be stronger than ever. Not only are our students relying upon us to keep them on a successful educational path, our many neighbors who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic will need us to be ready this fall to help them navigate their pathway forward as well.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me, any time. My next college-wide communication will be next week, inAmy’s Update, unless there are new developments, in which case I will update you immediately. 

Stay well, take care of yourselves, and each other, and please stay in touch.

Amy

Dr. Amy Morrison 
President, Lake Washington Institute of Technology

Good Morning:

First, I want to share with you the great news that all of our students and colleagues who were exposed as a result of the coronavirus outbreak at Life Care Center of Kirkland are out of self-quarantine, and doing well. I’m incredibly thankful that they are all doing well.

As you know, on Monday evening, Governor Inslee issued a statewide order to “Stay Home, Stay Healthy,” March 25 through April 6. In his order, he outlined who and what was considered essential during this time. I thought it would be helpful if I outlined the specifics, as they relate to higher education, and more specifically, LWTech.

LWTech will continue to serve students online during this this two week period. As you know, students and faculty are currently on a much deserved spring break.

Faculty return on April 6. Spring quarter classes will start April 7, with all classes online for the first week. Starting the second week, some classes will stay online for the remainder of the quarter, some will be hybrid with the on-campus portion occurring later in the quarter, and some classes some will be held on campus starting on April 13 with social distancing, per the Governor’s executive order. We will communicate this plan to all students in the coming days, and of course, please remain flexible as the situation could change. 

Also, with the “Stay Home, Stay Healthy order,” there will not be in-person testing until after April 6. We know this will impact some of our programs. We will have more information about this in the coming days. If you need to submit any documents to admissions, registration, financial aid, or workforce development, we have secure online document upload options. Just let us know, and we can talk you through the process over the phone. You can reach our Student Services team at (425) 739-8104.

I know this is continues to be an incredibly stressful time for our college community. Not only are you having to make adjustments at work, you’re also making adjustments at home. Even with all of this change, the robust work of the college continues. So many of you have been working diligently to prepare for Spring quarter as we are starting to shift to how we work and deliver online instruction beginning April 7.

Our teams in Instruction and Student Services have been incredibly creative and innovative with designing equitable ways for our students to move to online instruction, and advising, for Spring quarter. We are also looking at how to move the normal business of the college to an online/remote format, including scheduling a Zoom All-Staff meeting once Spring quarter gets underway, and the team in Institutional Research is working on getting out this year’s employee survey. We will have more on both of those activities and others soon.

Our community of belonging is strong, and we are resilient. I, along with Executive Cabinet are here for you, and as I’ve said before, we have your backs, and the Board of Trustees stands firmly in support of our college. Thank you for your patience as we, together, create an equitable learning and working environment for our students, and each other.

Finally, I’d like to thank Dr. Aparna Sen and Dr. Lauren Cline for gathering and delivering a substantial PPE donation from our Nursing program to EvergreenHealth yesterday. As you know there is a tremendous shortage. I’m so grateful that we were able to do this for our hospital and industry partner.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me, any time. My next college-wide communication will be next week, unless there are new developments, in which case I will update you immediately.

Stay well, take care of yourselves, and each other,

Amy

Dr. Amy Morrison 
President, Lake Washington Institute of Technology

The safety of our students, faculty and staff is our priority. If we need to close the college we will do so. Everyone’s health and safety is our highest priority.

Unlike our local decision making with weather-related closures, our President will follow the advice and direction from King County Public Health, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and state officials. 

If we have suspended operations, you will be notified through our FlashAlert and Omnilert systems that send out calls, emails and text messages. Now is a great time to make sure that your notification settings are correct.

Sign up for LWTech's Flash Alert and Omnilert Notifications

Human coronavirus is most commonly spread from an infected person to others through:

• The air by coughing and sneezing, or close person-to-person contact
• Touching an object or surface with the virus on it, then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes before washing your hands 

Symptoms may appear in as few as 2 days or as long as 14 days after exposure to the virus.

Symptoms of coronavirus may include:

• Fever
• Difficulty breathing
• Cough

If you have traveled to/from any of the countries with travel alerts or outbreaks, and have symptoms, contact a healthcare provider. 

If you have been notified by public health authorities that you might have been exposed, please follow instructions provided by the Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control.

There is currently no vaccine to prevent coronavirus. The CDC recommends everyday prevention measures, including: 

• Everyone get a seasonal flu vaccination if possible. While it will not prevent the novel coronavirus, influenza is currently in widespread circulation, and initial symptoms can be similar to novel coronavirus.
• Avoid contact with people who are sick.
• Stay home from school or work if sick.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, and for at least 20 seconds.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Don’t share food and drinks.
• Clean and disinfect shared surfaces and objects that are touched frequently. 

Stay home when you are sick. Do not report to work or attend classes if you are ill. Instructors, consider providing students with ways to complete work from home. This is good advice no matter what illness is going around. If you are concerned about your flu-like illness, call your health care provider for advice and share any travel history. Stay home, rest, and stay hydrated.

To prevent the spread of any respiratory diseases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends you:

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue and throw the tissue away
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces and objects
• Wash your hands often with soap and warm water

The proper way to wash your hands is for at least 20 seconds, especially before eating, after going to the bathroom and after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing.

Keep some basic supplies at home. The US Department of Homeland Security recommends that people should keep some basic supplies at home in case they get sick or in case it is difficult to get supplies at a store. Here is what they are recommending:

• Store a two-week supply of food. Select foods that do not require refrigeration, preparation or cooking. Ensure that formula for infants and any child’s or older person’s special nutritional needs are a part of your planning. Plan for your pets as well.
• Store a supply of nonprescription drugs, such as pain relievers, cough and cold medicines, stomach remedies and anti-diarrheal medication, as well as vitamins and fluids with electrolytes (such as sports drinks).
• Store health and cleaning supplies, such as bleach, tissues, a thermometer, disposable gloves, soap and alcohol-based hand sanitizers.
• Periodically check your regular prescription drugs to ensure a continuous supply in your home.
• Get copies and maintain electronic versions of health records from doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and other sources and store them, for personal reference.
• Talk with family members and loved ones about how they would be cared for if they got sick, or what will be needed to care for them in your home.

Make a plan now for how you, your household and your neighbors might need to adapt, rely on each other if there is a significant outbreak. Here are some things that could occur:

• Major events, church and community services and many businesses may be temporarily closed.
• Public transportation might be reduced or suspended.
• Childcare centers and schools may be closed.
• It could be difficult to buy basic supplies.