By Amanda Hitchcock
@amandassnapshots
It’s nearly been a full year of the COVID-19 pandemic and Springfield College is ready to face all the challenges that will continue to arise. By having every student tested weekly, the school is aiming to remain on top of cases and keep things in control.
Christine Johnston, Assistant Director of Campus Recreation, Alcohol & Other Drug Education and Health Promotion at Springfield, talked about Springfield’s growth as a community through this time.
“It’s two totally different worlds, we didn’t even know what we were dealing with last spring, we have improvements in technology, we are offering classes fully remote. I think we are even better prepared than last fall,” she said.
With spring sports resuming shortly, Springfield is ready as ever to deal with outbreaks and roll out extra testing. Johnston talked about how all athletes will differ when it comes to COVID testing.
“We have requested that all our athletes select their testing dates for Wednesday so that [for] weekend competitions, they have to be tested within 72 hours of the competition.”
The current low rate of positive tests are leaving staff and students with high hopes of finishing the school year.
“We are prepared to handle many cases with [the] new procedures. We know that other institutions have seen drastic numbers of cases and we are not out of the woods yet, but our numbers for the last couple of weeks are very promising,” Johnston said.
For any further questions or concerns regarding COVID-19 policies and procedures visit Springfield College’s official website, www.springfield.edu, and click on the green banner at the top of the homepage. Housed there is COVID-19 information that is updated regularly, along with a cumulative dashboard and many more resources.
Photo: Jack Margaros