At Austin Peay this week, I’m happy to report our COVID-19 cases remain manageable and low, with 15 students, four staff members and three faculty members testing positive for the novel coronavirus. We currently have only one student living in campus housing who is in insolation, and we have 72 students, both on and off-campus, who are in quarantine. We're also continuing to closely monitor these cases to see if our numbers grow following last weekend’s long holiday.

Like I said last week, you can find this information on our APSU Covid-19 Self-Reporting Dashboard, which is updated daily. We’ve also added a breakdown of our current COVID-19 supplies to that dashboard, and if you look at that supply list, you'll see we remain in good shape. As of today, we still have 38,000 paper masks, 14,000 cloth masks, 30,000 dry wipes and an abundance of hand sanitizer. These supplies are for your use, so please don’t hesitate to use them or request anything, such as an additional mask.

On Tuesday, Montgomery County ended its mask mandate, but our mask policy remains in effect. Anyone entering a building on campus must wear a mask, and masks must be worn outside if you are within six feet of another individual. During my social media town hall yesterday, I also asked members of the campus community to be good citizens by continuing to wear masks off-campus, even though the county mandate is over. By doing this, you will help protect your friends, classmates, colleagues and mentors on campus – particularly those who belong to at-risk populations, including older individuals and those with compromised immune systems.

We’re also continuing to monitor the slight increase (less than five) in positive cases within the Department of Music. Once we noticed these new cases, we moved all music performance classes to a virtual format for two weeks. We did this to analyze the situation and see how we can improve our safety protocols. Some might accuse us of being overly cautious, but the health of our students, faculty and staff remains our main concern.

I appreciate everyone in the music department for being able to pivot on such short notice to an online format. Their ability to transition quickly and successfully demonstrates that we’re ready to move back to remote learning, should the situation change later this semester. Right now, that is not the case, and we’re working hard to keep both online and on-campus classes progressing smoothly for the remainder of the fall.

If you missed yesterday's town hall session, you can watch it below.

September 9, 2020 Town Hall hosted by Interim President Whiteside

Again, thank you to everyone for working to keep our campus healthy while continuing to offer the quality education we're known for. During difficult times like this, it's inspiring to see our Govs lead.

Dannelle Whiteside

Interim President