Fall 2021: COVID-19 Protocol & Guidelines

• Wear a mask around others for 10 days.
• Test on day 5, if possible.
• If you develop symptoms get a test and stay home.

• Stay home for 5 days. After that continue to wear a mask around others for 5 additional days.
• If you can’t quarantine you must wear a mask for 10 days.
• Test on day 5 if possible.
• If you develop symptoms get a test and stay home

8.27.2021

Note from President Bridges

We are so glad to welcome you to the SAGU family. As a family we care about each other, including one’s physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. For this reason, we are carefully monitoring the recent increase in COVID-19 cases, including tracking counsel coming from the CDC and our state health department. While vaccination is not required for students or employees, we strongly encourage vaccination in order to help minimize infections and prevent hospitalizations. As a convenience to our employees and students, this Monday we have made arrangements for vaccinations to be made available on campus. The vaccine being offered is Moderna. If you have any questions, please feel free to talk to our campus nurse, Andrea Bunyard. Her office is in Teeter Hall. 

8.25.2021

Vaccinations

Vaccination is not required for students to attend this Fall.

SAGU has coordinated with the State of Texas to make vaccinations available to SAGU students and employees for first vaccinations to take place on August 23 and 30, with the second shots to take place approximately four weeks later. Communications for scheduling appointments have gone out to all students and employees, and walk-in vaccinations without an appointment are also available on these dates.

SAGU community members who have been vaccinated will not be subject to the quarantine requirement should they come into contact with someone with a confirmed case of COVID-19 (see “COVID-19 Protocols” below).

Face Coverings and Temperature Checks

Face coverings are no longer required of our campus population. Individuals who wish to wear face coverings are, of course, welcome to do so. Faculty or staff members can require an individual to wear a mask or face covering within the confines of their personal office space; however, notice will be posted for such requirement and a mask or face covering will be provided to the guest if they are not equipped with one. If a guest enters someone’s personal office space; however, the guest will not be able to require the host to wear a mask or face covering. Temperature checks are also no longer required.

Residential Life

Guidelines with regard to social interaction and dorm life will return to their normal, pre-COVID status.

Meetings and Gatherings

All gatherings, including chapel, classrooms, and the cafeteria will return to normal capacity. Social distancing will no longer be required. Community members and guests are still welcome to wear masks or other face coverings if they would choose to for their personal protection. Where possible, classrooms will provide adequate room to create personal space within the room itself.

COVID-19 Protocols

Individuals who are vaccinated and exposed to an individual with COVID-19 will not be required to quarantine unless they develop symptoms, which will be confirmed by the SAGU Campus Nurse. Regardless of vaccination, anyone who tests positive or is exposed is required to contact the Campus Nurse or notify their Dorm Pastor. SAGU’s Residential Life Staff will continue to notify Academics Services to inform faculty members if a student is approved to miss class due to COVID-19 protocols, whether for quarantine (exposed to someone testing positive) or isolation (displaying COVID-19 symptoms or testing positive for COVID-19). Students that are not vaccinated for COVID-19 will be expected to follow current CDC and State of Texas guidelines in regards to exposure to COVID-19.

Students who live within 8 hours of campus and test positive or display symptoms will be required to isolate for 10 days at home. Students who live 8 hours or more away from campus will be provided an isolation room, will be checked upon regularly to assess their overall wellness, and will have meals brought to them for the period of their isolation. Unvaccinated students who are exposed to someone testing positive and live 2 hours or less away from campus will be required to go home, while those living beyond 2 hours from campus can go home or can stay in their current dorm room to quarantine. If an unvaccinated student has been exposed or come in close contact with someone exhibiting multiple symptoms of COVID-19, the unvaccinated student will be subject to quarantine until the symptomatic individual has received confirmation of a positive or negative test. If negative, the exposed individual will be immediately released from quarantine. If they stay in their dorm room, they will have meals brought to them for the period of their quarantine.

SAGU will continue to monitor any changes in COVID-19 that affect our community and may make any necessary changes to these guidelines.

3.16.2021

With Governor’s Abbott’s recent announcement concerning masks and permitting businesses to return to 100% capacity, we felt this was an appropriate time to revisit the protocols that we have had in place on the SAGU campus since students came back to campus seven months ago in August 2020. First, we realize that there is still a COVID-19 pandemic: the virus remains a real threat to our health and lives continue to be lost to its effects. It remains a serious situation. At the same time, we are beginning to see some very positive trends: the number of cases that we have experienced here in our campus community has been very, very low and the rollout of vaccinations is taking place at an encouraging pace. And, there is still a long way to go before we are on the other side of this.

We pledged to you that we would place a priority on the safety of our community members, including not only the health of our bodies, but also our mental and social health. This pandemic has taken a toll on us in all of these ways.

With this in mind, the Task Force has considered what we can do to while provide some relief from the constraint that these restrictions have placed on us as a healthy community while maintaining a safe campus environment. After careful consideration, the following will be in place for the SAGU campus community from now through the remainder of the spring semester 2021.

All protocols which have been in place continue to be in place unless altered by this communication. That means, among some other things: all individuals on campus are required to wear masks while indoors, we are all encouraged to wash our hands regularly and/or use sanitizer, social distancing should be maintained when feasible, seating in classrooms will continue to be spaced so as to create greater personal space, chapel seating will continue at its current reduced capacity and greater spacing, seating in the Caf will continue at its reduced capacity, and masks will continue to be required in the Caf unless seated and eating.

The following are changes that have been approved to our on-campus protocols for the remainder of the semester:

• Masks will not be required when outdoors, although we continue to encourage proper social distancing when practical.
• The sand volleyball pits will be available for use.
• Masks will not be required in and throughout the Garrison Wellness Center. Once again, distancing is encouraged as a good practice, but masks are not required. Additionally, all of the facility will be available, including the pool, racquetball courts, gym, weights and cardio areas, and exercise class spaces.
• Seating in Einstein’s coffee shop will again be available (thank you, Einstein’s!).

We all should pray and should each do our part to see that the remainder of this semester is a joyful and healthy one. And we do hope that these changes will provide some needed relief to the constraints that we all have felt. We have been blessed on this campus to this point and pray for that blessing to continue! Praise God for that!