Wayne Community College will implement COVID-19 screenings on all who work, study, or conduct any business in its facilities beginning Monday, Aug. 10.
The questionnaire-and-temperature-check screening will be required of every person, every time they enter the campus or the college’s portion of the Wayne Executive Jetport.
After people are screened, the campus is open to them as usual,” WCC Associate Vice President for Administrative Services Derek Hunter said.
Every person in a vehicle will be screened while they sit in that vehicle.
Based on the questionnaire, individuals must not show a “significant risk of exposure” or have COVID-19 symptoms, and must not have a temperature over 100.4 degrees, which will be checked with a non-touch thermometer. Individuals will be given two opportunities to “pass” all elements before they are denied access.
Individuals who are not allowed entry must meet certain criteria in order to return. Those components are three days with no fever, improvement in respiratory symptoms, 10 days since first appearance of symptoms, and overall reduction in COVID-19-like symptoms.
Traffic must enter through either the south entrance from Wayne Memorial Drive (at the traffic light) or the New Hope Road entrance and go through a drive-through check point. The north entrance on Wayne Memorial Drive will be closed.
The screening process itself is expected to take less than a minute per person but individuals should allow for possible traffic-related delays to insure they arrive at their destination on schedule. Traditionally heavier traffic periods will have more screeners on duty to facility a smooth flow, said Hunter.
While college officials do not anticipate a back up, the stations are located in such a way to accommodate lines of vehicles within campus roads and parking lots.
Screening joins other safety measures the college has implemented, including requiring face coverings, facilitating social distancing, encouraging personal hygiene, installing physical barriers, and enhancing facility sanitation.
To further reduce the opportunities for exposure in the fall semester, the college has drastically reduced the number of traditional delivery-style courses.
More than half of the college-credit courses will be taught completely online and a third will be hybrid (a combination of online and traditional instruction), said Vice President for Academic and Student Services Patty Pfeiffer. Of the remaining courses that do require face-to-face interaction, half are work-based learning or practicums required for certain programs.
Classrooms and laboratories have been configured to allow for increased space between students and instructors.
Protocols are in place to respond to any potential COVID-19 exposures during a WCC activity.
“Wayne Community College strives to comply with all health and safety guidance from federal, state, and local authorities while providing necessary services and quality instruction,” Pfeiffer said.
“This thorough approach that Wayne Community College is taking has been designed with rigorous deliberation and is implemented to protect the college and our community,” said WCC President Thomas A. Walker Jr. “They take into account the guidance of local, state, and national authorities and have been vetted by local officials to ensure that we provide the safest environment possible.”
