RWU Coronavirus Information

RWU COVID-19 Update

6:40 p.m.

To the RWU Community, 

Preparations to transition RWU to online and alternate modes of instruction starting March 23 are well underway in response to developments of COVID-19. The campus community and all RWU families are at the top of minds in all of the planning and decisions we are making. 

Here are the most recent updates related to the variety of campus operations we can share. 

Federal (CDC) and International Advisories 

  • President Donald Trump declared a national emergency today, freeing up $50 billion to address the pandemic.  
  • At this time, there are currently 1,629 cases and 41 deaths in the U.S., affecting 47 states and the District of Columbia. While the Centers for Disease Control reports that the risk for being exposed to the virus is still low, community spread of COVID-19 continues to grow across the nation, with six additional states reporting cases in the last 24 hours. 
  • The World Health Organization advised that nine new countries have reported cases of COVID-19 in the past 48 hours, bringing the total number of global cases to more than 132,000 and nearly 5,000 deaths to date. 
  • All travel from Europe, except for the UK and Ireland, has been suspended for at least a month. The affected European countries include: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. 

Rhode Island Advisories: RI Dept of Health (RIDOH) & Governor 

  • As of Friday, there are 9 new cases of COVID-19 reported in RI in just a 24-hour period, bringing the total to 14. 
  • The Governor’s Office has required that all public schools close as of next week. For RWU, we know this will have implications to day care and home priority needs for our employees (see below items on guidance on Remote Work that will be coming next week). 
  • Since declaring a state of emergency, the Governor’s Office has also asked all Rhode Islanders to avoid gatherings of more than 250 people for at least two weeks and those who are 60 or older or have serious medical conditions to avoid all events. 
  • On Thursday, the City of Providence declared a state of emergency, postponing all city-sponsored events for the next two weeks. City officials will also not be permitting new events and will temporarily revoke licenses for gatherings of more than 100 people, due to higher risk of transmission of the virus. 

University Advisories & Preparations
 
Advisories to Entire RWU Community 

  • Data point: 521 faculty members are working to transition 1,640 courses to online and alternate methods. Instructors are beginning to contact their students with instructions and logistics for their courses. 
  • The university has cancelled all external groups and University events (on- and off-campus) of 50 or more attendees now through March 29.  
  • We continue to assess all April events on a case by case basis to monitor, postpone or cancel.  The decision has been made to postpone the official Inauguration of President Miaoulis to a later date.  Additionally, the Accepted Students Day scheduled for April 5 has been cancelled. 
  • We also wish to remind you that all University and student organization travel is prohibited through the end of the semester, with exceptions for essential university advancement and recruitment travel. All other employees and student trip coordinators should be making arrangements to cancel and seek request refunds at this time. 
     

For new advisories for students, staff and faculty, please view the relevant sections at rwu.edu/covid-19.

We will continue to keep you updated on campus operations. Our thoughts are with the students, faculty and staff who may have loved ones affected by COVID-19.  

Thank you, 
Emergency Response Team

RWU Coronavirus Information