Western Texas College

Good Afternoon WTC Family and Welcome to Our Fall 2022 Semester!

How wonderful it is to see our campus come alive again! Let’s make it a terrific, productive, successful, happy, and healthy year!

Thankfully we haven’t seen nearly as many cases of Covid as we have in the past two years, however, it is still out there and we need to be mindful of that.

Although our Covid protocols have been greatly reduced since the pandemic began, common sense still prevails. It’s always a good idea to wash and sanitize your hands frequently. It’s also a good idea to sanitize desks, doorknobs, and door handles that are used repeatedly. And, as always, if you don’t feel well, please stay home. For everyone’s safety, please do not ignore symptoms of Covid.

The latest CDC guidance notes four steps in helping prevent severe illness:
1) understand your risk,
2) take steps to protect yourself and others through vaccines, therapeutics, and nonpharmaceutical interventions (social distancing, etc.) when needed,
3) get tested and wear a mask if you have been exposed, and
4) get tested if you are symptomatic, and isolate for 5 days if you are infected.

For WTC this means if a person contracts Covid, they must isolate for 5 days, and then wear a mask for an additional 5 days while in the classroom or other indoor spaces.

If you need a home Covid test, please contact me as we still have numerous home tests that Cogdell donated to us.

Our timecards no longer have a Covid drop-down box, so any sick time used for Covid will be noted as regular sick time for the 5 days you are isolated.

With so many individuals now using home testing for diagnosis, online case counts have become a less reliable indicator of disease spread.

The reality is that we must begin to manage Covid as we do other viruses such as the flu, measles, and chicken pox. Each of these viruses calls upon everyone to personally practice public health mitigation strategies to avoid infecting others.

It is our hope that Covid cases remain minimal locally. We will continue to monitor the CDC’s transmission levels and adapt our policies and procedures as needed for the protection of our campus and the surrounding community.

And just to make you smile... Isn't it funny how we used to eat cake after someone had blown on it?


Barb

Please click the link below for the latest CDC Recommendations  as of August 11, 2022:
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7133e1.htm