The Virus Action Team continues to meet regularly, advising the Senior Leadership Team, and providing improved responses in a variety of areas.
There have been increasing questions about the number of positive COVID-19 cases associated with Grand Valley.
Senior Leadership, guided by the Virus Action Team, made the decision to report all verified positive cases associated with the university on the GVSU COVID-19 Data Dashboard, including all students, whether they live on or off campus, and all faculty and staff.
Greg Sanial, vice president for Finance and Administration and interim director of the Virus Action Team, said this decision was made to provide the most complete picture possible for the campus community and to offer care and support for all students, faculty and staff regardless if they’re fully online or on campus.
"It has been reported that Grand Valley has the highest number of COVID cases among Michigan’s public universities. This is because we count the known condition of all our students, while many other colleges count only the students living on campus," said Sanial. "If we reported only our on-campus numbers, we would have one of the lowest numbers of reported cases."
The dashboard shows all currently active cases within a 10-day window and is updated regularly. The 10-day roll takes into account those whose status is presumed no longer active. Recent changes to the graphic presentation on the dashboard allow for the display of additional information on COVID-19 populations and locations.
Testing updates
Grand Valley continues an aggressive testing regimen administered by independent providers. Results are allowing a comparison of the percentage of positive tests within the GVSU community with those from the broader community.
In response to feedback regarding the testing sites, Grand Valley has added a second lab to shorten the lines. The new lab has a promised 24-hour turnaround time for results. In addition, Spectrum Health has fixed an issue with its MyChart system to speed up those results.
Buses
Grand Valley requested a remedy from The Rapid to address concerns about crowded buses. The Rapid has added three buses for better social distancing and increased frequency; ridership is 70 percent less than last year's level.
GVSU and The Rapid are continually monitoring ridership for any crowding issues on the GVSU routes. The newest route, The Laker Line, has articulated buses with almost double the capacity of the standard buses, which will also help with distancing and a faster commute.
Isolation and quarantine
There have been questions surrounding when students need to isolate and when they need to quarantine. All the information in available on the Lakers Together website and specifically in this section. The information on this site is updated as warranted.
Contact information
The Lakers Together call center has been established to take questions and hear concerns. It operates 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends. The number is (616) 331-INFO (4636).
Personal health concerns should go to the GVSU/Spectrum 24-hour call center at (833) 734-0020. Observations, suggestions or questions should go to [email protected].
Complete information can be found at www.gvsu.edu/lakerstogether.
