EOT 324 - Seagraves Controversy; Dr. Amy Orders: NC State's Transition to In-person Instruction

Eye on the Triangle

FULL TRANSCRIPT OF EPISODE
Provided by Otter.ai

Eoin Trainor 0:00
The views and opinions expressed in Eye on the Triangle do not represent WKNC or the student media.

Good evening Raleigh and welcome to this week's Eye on the Triangle an NC State student run and student produced news show on WKNC 88.1. I'm Eoin Trainor. On tonight's episode Elizabeth Esser is talking about NC State's return to in person classes this fall with Dr. Amy Orders the director of emergency management and mission continuity at the university. Afterwards, Laura Mooney and I report on the controversy surrounding Chadwick Seagraves, an NC State employee who was accused of being a member of the proud boys, stay tuned.

Elizabeth Esser 0:45
This is Elizabeth Esser reporting for Eye on the Triangle. Joining us today is Dr. Amy Orders director of emergency management and mission continuity here at NC State to discuss the university's plann to return to in person classes this fall. Thank you so much for joining us today, Dr. orders.

Dr. Amy Orders 1:01
Thank you for having me, I'm grateful to have the opportunity to tell about great new changes on the horizon.

Elizabeth Esser 1:07
To start us off, can you just tell listeners a bit about yourself and your position at NC State?

Dr. Amy Orders 1:12
I have hit my 20th year at NC State. But my my position has evolved over the years within environmental health and public safety. And within COVID, it really took on a new a new face and a new paradigm of operation centric work was very important to move us forward in all the different phases. So our job has been to be responsive to the needs of the campus over the past year.

Elizabeth Esser 1:35
How did the university come to the decision to return to in person class.

Dr. Amy Orders 1:41
It was kind of an evolving conversation. We've been watching the public health information and changes in the CDC or recommendations from other public health entities for several months. And the whole idea is we knew we would return to normal and I have to use normal with air quotes at some point we were hopeful it would be sooner than not. So trending the virus itself that community transmission, the prevalence of vaccine and its distribution models, people, you know, following community standards, both outside of campus and in campus, all of that helped make a better informed decision on what was safe and appropriate to the idea of a normal fall really is a cascade effect over a couple of months. It requires us to go back and challenge what our safety practices are now what our community standards need to be what we need to do for changes in classrooms or physical spaces to invite people back to their offices or research environments or other areas. But all of that has to be mindful of the virus itself, we have to watch what happens in the public health sector. If we experience another wave of the virus and infections, then we need to be moderating in our decision making and pace appropriately. We're really hopeful though that normal fall can really mean back in the classrooms 100% or in a large capacity. Looking at our research operations, we've fully activated and then restoring our other campus special events, clinics, all of the above. So we are anticipating a normal start keeping that caveat in mind that if something changes, we pause

Elizabeth Esser 3:14
So when we started with in person classes last fall seats were spread out. Teachers had plexiglass screens in front of them while they lectured. As of right now, what can we expect in person classes to look like in comparison to in person classes prior to COVID.

Dr. Amy Orders 3:30
Some of the recommendations that are coming out slowly but steadily from the Centers of Disease Control really do tell us what the expectations are how to minimize exposure, maximize the experience. So one of the greatest examples that we're watching is public schools, you're seeing the decrease in the spacing. So we were at six feet physical distancing. And now the paradigm shifting to about three feet. When we in our classroom setting some of our classrooms may not be appropriate for different reasons. It could be ventilation, it could be the spacing, whatever that is, we'll continue to assess that even as recommendations come in and say hey, you can be closer together. In the fall though it was such an extreme situation, we were looking at every possible safety mechanism that layers into effect is the Swiss cheese model. If you can give Plexiglas and maximize distance and decrease the occupancy, then we minimize transmission in those facilities, what happens outside and you bring the virus in there, that's still a problem. Well, now that the virus load or the number of positive cases is going down, we can start removing layer by layer not all layers to be able to increase that experience as close to what we used to or we're accustomed to, in like the 2019 timeframe. So university will still look at these things very, very, very detailed and specifically such as plexiglass, like you mentioned, if a faculty member has some sort of experiential learning or in face obligation with a larger crowd. Maybe that Plexiglas is still appropriate because when you Talk, you actually spit, the aerosol is a concern. So we need to think about these things creatively and not assume that we take everything away because that may not be the situation.

Elizabeth Esser 5:10
Residence halls will also return to full occupancy. Will any extra precautions be put into place there?

Dr. Amy Orders 5:16
there are some standing precautions that we will maintain for sure. So, in our residence halls, single occupancy moving that back to regular double occupancy is is the goal. And still having a process for an exception as we have cases that are necessary to address but the heightened cleaning, having people understand what cleaning in their own personal space means. Understanding what it what the virus itself will exist in the background, how to protect yourself and be more effective and those measures will continue. The other part of it in the residence halls and across campus is messaging. We won't just take down everything that says you know, cover your face, wear your mask, it has to be a blend, a reminder, if it's cold and flu season, we tell people cover your cough and wash your hands. Let's do cold flu plus COVID because it will still exist. So still cover your cough wash your hands. It applies at home and the residence hall settings, it's going to be the same type of approach

Elizabeth Esser 6:14
Does the university as of right now have plans for if there are major spikes in cases?

Dr. Amy Orders 6:20
We keep that as a on the front burner conversation every day, our plans won't go away. So we will decrease the number of quarantine and isolation spaces in the fall. mindful though that at any point in time, if we have to increase those, again, we will so we have provisions in place kind of in a tiered process. If we have to go back and analyze what the best spacing policies are. We're hopeful that if everyone understands what the community expectations are, then we won't see those spikes we will go and have our social gatherings we may still have limitations on those gatherings. That's kind of a crystal ball that we don't have right now. But if we're able to look at those in a very methodical manner and make some plan decisions, then if we do have a spike we're ready to address.

Elizabeth Esser 7:03
Finally, is there anything else that you would like for listeners to know about NC State's return to normal this fall?