George Mason University is home to more than 400 Registered Student Organizations (RSOs). At the beginning of each academic year, the university hosts the Get Connected Fair for students to meet the number of RSOs on campus as well as various offices at Mason. This is a great event for students to explore a variety of involvement opportunities and to start building their community.
This year’s event will be held virtually on Wednesday, September 9 through the Mason360 platform.
In following with Mason’s Safe Return to Campus plan, New Student and Family Programs has made the tough decision to host a Virtual Family Weekend series with events that will span from mid-October to mid-November. Although they are unable to provide our traditional, in-person events, they are committed to helping you make your own Family Weekend experience!
Dear Mason faculty and staff:
I hope your first week of the fall semester has gone well. I am writing with more updates on the status of our ongoing efforts to track COVID-19 cases at George Mason University.
We are no longer using Kallaco test kits
Our use of Kallaco self-collection kits is officially over. We have exhausted our supplies of Kallaco kits as scheduled, and have no plans to order more. Other test kits, administered by health professionals, are now being used for all tests.
Residential randomized tests are now mandatory
This week we began soliciting volunteers for our randomized tests of students living on campus. To underscore the vital importance of this testing, starting next week we will make participation mandatory for residential students selected to participate.
Strong participation needed for randomized surveillance testing
We recognize how busy everyone is with the start of the semester. However, a robust participation rate is important in order to achieve effective levels of test results from all members of the university community.
If you receive an email selecting you for participation in randomized testing, I strongly encourage you to get tested. It is for the good of the entire university community.
More insights on Kallaco testing kits
Members of the faculty continue to express concerns about the validity of the initial round of COVID-19 pre-screening we conducted among students arriving to live in our residence halls. We had formulated our plan with a working group of faculty and medical professionals, but as an added step, I asked additional, nationally renowned scientists among Mason’s faculty to review our methods and offer ways to make improvements.
One faculty member I asked to review the process is Dr. Ali Andalibi, a molecular biologist and geneticist who serves as associate dean of research for the College of Science. Dr. Andalibi’s analysis is that our initial screening process was not ideal. Nonetheless, he concluded that the results we attained were reliable. I urge you to read his analysis here. While it is somewhat technical, he thoroughly addresses most of the issues that were brought forward by some faculty.
The initial screening of 3,000-plus students turned up a small number of positive results. It was far better for those students and everyone they encountered to learn of their positivity prior to leaving home for Mason, not after arriving. Given the options of deploying this type of pre-test or not pretesting, we chose this option given it was the only viable option available to us at the time.
Nonetheless, with the guidance of health and science faculty we improved on our process earlier this week by requiring that anyone collecting their own test samples do so under the guidance of a trained professional, to reduce the risk that samples would be collected improperly, prompting false-negative results. There were some faculty who were still not comfortable with this additional step, so I met with leaders of the Faculty Senate to outline a path forward. While discussions were at times contentious, we were able to reach a better path forward for our university community and I want to thank all involved for working through this with us.
As we progress through the semester, we will continue to ask our preeminent health and science faculty to evaluate how we can continue to improve our testing methods. Among our areas of focus are how frequently we should retest students living on campus, what types of tests and analysis we should use, and how heavily we could rely on our own on-campus laboratories for rapid-return testing. Whenever we make a major change we will keep you informed in our spirit of transparency.
So far, I am very impressed by how seriously I see the whole university community taking this threat. We are wearing masks, keeping our distance, keeping our hands washed, and a lot of hungry Patriots are keeping our Starship robots rolling all over campus.
Keep up the great effort, Patriots!
Sincerely,
Gregory Washington
President
Dear Mason Families,
The first week of classes of the Fall 2020 semester has arrived, and we are excited to welcome students to Mason both in person and virtually. Please know faculty and staff from around the university are working hard behind the scenes to support your Mason family. We recognize that you and your student may still have questions, so we created a list of top things you need to know:
1. The university created the Safe Return to Campus plan to help you and your student understand the changes brought to Mason in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. What opportunities exist for students to get involved and meet other students?
We are committed to helping you and your student navigate the university, its services, and supporting your transition. Again, welcome to the Mason family – we’re glad you’re here.
Rose Pascarell
Vice President, University Life
Dear Mason Nation:
Fall 2020 is officially underway, and George Mason University is marking a transition in our efforts to stay ahead of the pandemic. Now that we are starting a mix of online and on-campus operations, I am writing to walk you through some of the new measures that will begin with the start of classes.
Starting with good news
From the time students began returning to our residence halls more than a week ago, the entire Mason community has taken our many required precautions very seriously. That is one reason why, so far, we are not experiencing many of the challenges that other universities have with reopening. A weekend article in The Washington Post gave a detailed account of our efforts to date. Keep up the great work, Patriots! This does not mean we will not have cases or will not to make adjustments in the future.
Staying the course
If you are familiar with our Safe Return to Campus plan, you know that the beginning of the school year means widening our focus from minimizing risk of the virus entering campus to also maximizing efforts to detect its presence and stop its spread if detected. Here is what to expect:
Update on questions about self-administered test kits
Over the summer, we developed testing procedures under the guidance of a working group of Mason health and science faculty, physicians and administrative faculty with robust scientific and clinical expertise, along with input from senior leadership. This week we asked members of the team who have relevant scientific expertise to reevaluate the validity of test results attained from self-collected test specimens, rather than those collected by medical professionals.
Our faculty spoke to their scientific counterparts at Opteo Laboratory, where specimens from our self-administered test kits have been sent. Mason’s own faculty has confirmed that the process we have followed is scientifically valid. The type of test we are using, PCR testing, is the most accurate available. The process used to analyze specimens is FDA-approved. And the laboratories used all have the critical certification from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services known as CLIA. Whether the samples were self-collected or obtained by a trained third party does not affect the validity of testing process used by Opteo. We do admit that there could be some challenges with any point-in-time test administered using this approach, which is why we have opted for enhanced frequency of testing from multiple sources, laboratories, and methodologies.
Frequency of testing is key
We are guided by the public health principle that point-in-time testing alone will not give us adequate understanding of the spread of COVID-19. To adequately track the spread of the virus, our community needs to undergo frequent rounds of testing, and test results need to be available quickly. This is our approach. The tests in question represent just the first of many rounds of tests that we are planning, and that first round of testing has now wrapped up.
Moving forward, as we make limited use of self-administered testing kits for students living on campus, we will take the added precaution of having trained professionals observe and guide the self-collection of test samples. In addition, we will use multiple laboratories to process COVID-19 tests in order to minimize the risk of a single laboratory having a process failure that could delay rapid results.
We recognize that a handful of Mason faculty and students have voiced their objections to this process, and that this answer may not be satisfying to them. We have heard you, and as a result we investigated your concerns promptly, and in good faith. Having received confirmation from our own faculty whose expertise is relevant to these matters that the specimens students submitted to the FDA-certified laboratory produced scientifically valid results, we are moving forward with our processes. We hope that you recognize that in this time of crisis there are real limitations to the availability of tests (with timely results) and that we have a process that is based on the best science available. We encourage the faculty in question to engage their fellow faculty involved in the development and analysis of this process and accept their evaluation, as we have, as they are the experts in these matters.
Preparing for COVID-19 cases at Mason
Mason is a university of nearly 39,000 students, 3,200 of whom live on campus, and 11,000 faculty and staff. The prevailing rate of positive tests in Fairfax, Arlington, and Prince William Counties ranges between 4 and 8 percent of those tested – so we must expect that there will be positive cases of coronavirus among our ranks. We will report cases as we learn of them, and with the hard work of our community, we hope to keep the positivity rate low and stable and our disease prevalence below the prevailing rate in Fairfax, Arlington, and Prince William Counties.
While we find ourselves with no perfect solution to this pandemic, I am heartened by the serious-minded faculty who are offering so much critical guidance, to us and to the nation, as well a community of faculty, staff, and students who are determined to do what it takes to keep the virus at bay.
Sincerely,
Gregory Washington
President
Dear Patriots,
Happy first day of classes of the Fall 2020 semester! I want to welcome you (back) to campus and hope that you have settled into your new home after move-in. This year has been and will continue to be an unprecedented one due to the global pandemic. As our Vice President Rose Pascarell wrote in a recent communication, COVID-19 will have an impact on the semester, but should not define it. As a result of the pandemic, we have made changes to our residential occupancy, staffing, and engagement efforts to prioritize your health and safety and the health and safety of the student and professional staff living and working in the residence halls. While these changes will require a period of adjustment, our core priorities remain the same and we are committed to supporting you and providing a living environment that is as safe as possible while fostering your connections and success.
The experience may look and feel a bit different, but our Housing & Residence Life (HRL) staff is eager to connect with you this year. To help you transition (back) to campus, I wanted to share our updated staffing and engagement plans within the residence halls.
Community Directors – we have 13 Community Directors (CD) living on campus and serving in a 24/7/365 on-call rotation. These professional staff members engage with residents, supervise student staff, and are available to answer questions and connect with you. Each one of our residential communities is overseen by one of these directors. To find yours, please visit: https://housing.gmu.edu/about/contact-housing.
Community Assistants – we have 93 Community Assistants (CAs) living in the residence halls. . They are extensively trained student staff who are available to support residents, work the community desks, and help maintain the health and safety of the halls through an on-call rotation. To reach a CA, don’t hesitate to call one of our 24/7 desks in either Eisenhower or Piedmont Halls.
VLC Mentors – we have 94 VLC Mentors serving as “virtual Resident Assistants.” Every residential student and every student in a Virtual Learning Community (VLC) was assigned a VLC Mentor. The VLC Mentors are trained to provide 1:1 support to students through our virtual “Knock & Talks” and community hours. They will also engage with you in creative ways through weekly traditions and virtual gatherings to help you meet others in your community and to have some fun. You have all been added to a group in the Mason360 App (http://mason360.gmu.edu) with other students in your hall and/or your VLC to start meeting each other and your VLC Mentor. In fact, VLC Mentors have already reached out to all residential and VLC students via Mason360 and sent an email as well as hosted their first meetings this past weekend.
Housekeeping & Maintenance Staff – we have dedicated teams to maintain the cleanliness of the halls and provide you with maintenance support as needed. Because our housekeeping staff have increased the frequency of cleaning, you will see them, so please don’t hesitate to say “hi.” They will even be cleaning your doors which is why you don’t see your name on your door this year! If you need something fixed within your space, please put in a maintenance request through the housing portal and a member of the maintenance team will come to fix the problem.
In addition to the changes in our staffing structure and the reduction in occupancy, we have had to adjust the availability of common spaces to prioritize your safety following recommendations from local health authorities. Although these spaces will remain closed for the foreseeable future, we have designed a virtual engagement plan that our VLC Mentors will execute through Mason360 to connect you with each other and our staff. I encourage you to visit the Mason360 page to see a wide array of in person and virtual events planned by both Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) and departments across campus. This is a great way to get connected to other students on campus!
This year will require that we all remember the privilege and responsibilities of living in community with others. Please familiarize yourself with all the new COVID-19 related policies located in the residential handbook. They have been implemented to support the safety and wellbeing of the entire community. Violations of these policies may result in removal and disciplinary action through our conduct process.
Living in community means your actions impact those around you within the halls. I ask that you continue to follow posted signage reminding you to wear a face covering, complete the COVID Health Check, wash your hands frequently, maintain social distancing, be diligent in upholding our guest policy, and if you feel sick, stay inside your room and contact Student Health Services for support. We are all in this together!
Whether you are joining us for your first semester or returning to live on campus, it is my hope that you feel welcomed and supported. The Housing & Residence Life staff is happy to welcome you (back) and we look forward to engaging with you soon.
Dr. Chris Holland
Assistant Dean/Chief Housing Officer
Dear Patriot Nation:
Over the last week, some of our newest Patriots have been moving into their residence halls in preparation for Monday’s start of classes. Safety is on everyone’s mind especially with discouraging news coverage of the troubles some universities are having with their openings.
I am writing to give an overview of the steps we are taking to operate the university safely, and to address concerns we have heard about one step we have taken to safely welcome students back.
George Mason University’s Safe Return to Campus plan is comprehensive and flexible, with multiple layers of precautionary protocols built in. We meet the standards recommended by federal and state public health officials, and in some instances go beyond their recommendations.
Concerns about the home testing kits
Some students and faculty have questioned the validity and reliability of the initial at-home tests that we mailed to students prior to their arrival in residence halls. To those who have expressed their concerns I say that we hear you. I recognize that your concerns come from a genuine place of care for everyone’s wellbeing.
Unfortunately, inaccurate and incomplete information has begun to circulate about these tests. Specifically, objections have been voiced about the method of collecting specimens, the accuracy of the testing, and the legitimacy of the company we have used.
Specimen collection – Faculty have questioned the validity of home-collection kits, citing that these tests are not FDA-approved for “home use.” Correctly, they are not – but that is not what we are using them for. These kits do not contain the capacity to produce results, only to allow for specimen collection. And while a number of the collection tubes contained labels that said, “for research purposes only,” those are simply common labels that would have been a waste of time and materials to replace. Opteo Laboratory validates that these kits are approved for home specimen collection.
Accuracy of results – The test methodology employed is a polymerase chain reaction, aka PCR test, which is the most accurate test available. The US Centers for Disease Control describes PCR tests as having “high sensitivity and high specificity.” Specimens collected at home are shipped to a well-established, CLIA-certified laboratory for analysis, Opteo Laboratory. “CLIA” is a federal quality certification called for by the FDA that simply stands for “Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments.”
Validity of Kallaco – Many concerns have been raised about Kallaco, the go-between company we contracted with to quickly distribute home-collection kits to 3,000 students and assure specimens get to Opteo Laboratory for rapid analysis. Kallaco is indeed a new company, formed just earlier this year. They are NOT doing the test analysis – only the logistics work to move home collection kits and specimens from students to Opteo Laboratory as efficiently as possible – something that more established businesses said they could not do on the scale we needed.
Yes, Kallaco is new and untested. Many steps we are forced to take in the fight against COVID-19 are also new and untested, because the solutions we need simply did not exist when the pandemic hit. And the more established organizations simply could not pivot rapidly enough to meet our emerging needs on the timeline and scale we require.
Why even conduct the home-collection tests?
We chose to use this test method as an additional means of screening of students moving into our university’s residence halls, as the first of several steps we are taking to identify anyone who might unknowingly bring COVID-19 to campus.
Some other universities also have taken this supplemental step. On the other hand, many universities, even some in Virginia, are not requiring any pretesting for students to move into residence halls, and Mason is not required to do so. We wanted that extra measure in place as an added safeguard.
With thousands of students taking the test, this initial screen found a handful who tested positive, subsequently quarantined, and as a result they did not show up on campus to unknowingly spread the virus.
No perfect solution
Clearly, this is not a perfect solution. Perfection simply does not exist. We have no relevant precedent, and we are doing everything we can to safely operate this university while delivering the best educational experience possible. Faced with the choice of an imperfect solution that could give us an additional means of detecting the virus – or choosing not to even try pre-screening – we chose to act. And we chose the best solution available to us at the time.
Enhanced measures taking effect starting Monday
If you are familiar with our Safe Return to Campus plan, you know that the beginning of school year means shifting gears from minimizing risk of the virus entering campus to also maximizing efforts to detect its presence and stop its spread.
Out of an abundance of caution, and out of respect for the very real concerns we share about reentering campus in this moment of uncertainty, we are preparing to accelerate certain testing regimens starting this week. Specifically:
Watch for a more detailed letter from me in the coming days in which we offer more details about each of these accelerated testing processes, after we have been able to verify the specifics.
Finally, I offer a reminder: Today’s conditions may not be the same tomorrow, requiring us to respond quickly to volatile conditions. We are ready, and we are listening to you. I want to express my profound gratitude for the hard work that thousands of students, faculty, and staff have put into preparing for Fall 2020, a semester like no other.
Sincerely,
Gregory Washington
President
