My dear Mount Holyoke College community, 

Although Mount Holyoke has not yet confirmed whether or not we will be returning to in-person classes this semester, I urge us all to think and plan ahead. 

I am begging you all to consider how returning to campus this semester without more safety protocols in place could cause immeasurable harm to our community as well as the greater Western Massachusetts area.

Returning to campus without more safety protocols in place can and will cause harm, not only to those that are young and healthy but to:

-The immunocompromised

-Commuters with high-risk family members

-Elderly faculty

-Staff members with poor paid sick-leave/ health insurance coverage

-And beyond+

If you care about keeping the Mount Holyoke College community and the greater Western Mass area safe, please join me in signing this petition and asking for the following measures to be implemented:

1. Teaching all coursework at Mount Holyoke remotely for the first three (3) weeks of instruction OR providing students with a hybrid learning option should we immediately return to in-person instruction. 
2. Keeping the Dining Commons restricted to carry-out only options for the same time frame that courses are being offered remotely/via a hybrid model.
3. Suspending in-person gatherings for the same time frame that courses are being offered remotely/via a hybrid model
4. Providing virtual points of access to the classroom for those students who test positive before move-in and are unable to arrive on campus and attend classes. 
5. Providing those students who test positive for COVID-19, regardless of residential status, with virtual points of access to the classroom. 
6. Giving those students who test positive for COVID-19 later on in the semester the option to continue accessing coursework remotely for at least ten (10) days after their first positive test, regardless of the most recent CDC guidelines. 
7. Providing all students who leave campus isolation housing with five (5) days worth of KN95 or N95 face coverings. 
8. Providing all students, faculty, and staff with at least ten (10) KN95 or N95 face coverings upon arrival/ before the semester begins. 
9. Providing care packages to all residential students with care packages of PPE including hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, and disposable face coverings upon arrival. 
10. Practicing transparency about the HVAC, air filtration, and ventilation systems of each building on campus. 

Justifications:

• The Omicron variant has proven to be more transmissible than previous variants (https://bit.ly/3FZWWwu thus we should be exercising additional caution in our approach. 
• The Omicron variant has an incubation period of roughly 3-7 days (https://nbcnews.to/3zrrBAD This overlaps with the time between move-in and classes restarting, and so people will likely be testing positive only after already having exposed others. Thus, we should transition to a remote or hybrid model, if only temporarily.
• We are seeing a nationwide spike in COVID-19 cases. Many members of the College community have already contracted COVID or come in close contact with those that have. If all students who find themselves in this situation are unable to access the classroom, there will be negative repercussions to their education. Thus, the College should provide remote points of entry. 
• With the updated CDC isolation guidelines for those who test positive/ are identified as close contacts, students and staff who are still contagious will be allowed to return to work and the classroom after only five (5) days in isolation (https://bit.ly/3zrrXar Many of them could lack access to PPE (read: N95/KN95 face coverings) sufficient to mitigate the continued spread of the virus, thus the College can and should take on the responsibility of providing it. 
• COVID-19 does not care whether you are sitting in a crowded, poorly ventilated classroom, or sharing an unmasked meal with your friends in Blanch. It does not make sense to be cautious in one area without exercising that same level of caution in another. Thus, we should avoid in-person gatherings altogether and practice a campus-wide quarantine until it is safe to proceed under more relaxed conditions. 
• COVID-19 is a respiratory illness. Students, faculty, and staff should have access to readily available information about how the campus environment could impact their safety. Thus, the College should provide this information (https://bit.ly/3pYwBJX