In an effort to limit the number of people on College of The Albemarle’s campus locations and lessen the potential spread of COVID-19, also known as coronavirus, COA is implementing the following changes.
Travel restrictions: Effective Monday, March 16, all non-essential college related travel is canceled for COA employees and students through April 30. This includes all previously scheduled trips, conferences and meetings.
In an effort to practice social distancing policies as recommended, meetings that are not vital to be held in person will be conducted through an online format or by phone. Meetings scheduled after April 30 will be evaluated in the coming weeks.
College events: All events on campus, college related or external, will be canceled or postponed through April 30. Events that have been canceled will be communicated to the COA community and the general public. Events that are set to occur after April 30 will be evaluated in the coming weeks.
Distance Learning Options: Beginning Monday, March 23, COA courses that can be delivered online, will be transitioned to online instruction. For programs that require “hands-on” learning components (i.e. labs and clinical settings), instructors will exercise social distancing within these courses. Throughout next week, March 16-20, instructors will be communicating with students in their classes the methods that will be used for online instruction and schedules for those who will still attend some in-person classes.
Academic Support Center, Testing Center and Labs: Students will have the ability to utilize these resources as they prepare for online instruction. Students who do not have adequate online capabilities at home will have access to designated computer labs on campus.
Cleaning and Disinfecting: COA is following the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for cleaning and disinfecting of all campus locations. Further information on that guidance is listed below:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/organizations/cleaning-disinfection.html
It is important to remember that COA will remain open, however the college’s leadership team is in communication daily to discuss the best decisions for the health and well-being of our community college students and employees.
Minimizing the amount of people at our campus locations will help to mitigate the spread of this virus. Also, as we have stated in previous communications to our COA community, if you are sick, please stay home.
We are encouraging our COA employees and students to remain flexible, as this is a fluid and rapidly evolving situation. We will provide regular updates on our college website and will utilize our Regroup Emergency Notification as needed.
