I’m putting together a set of questions I’d like to see higher ed leaders answer thoroughly and publicly before bringing students back to campus in the fall. Feel free to add!

What level of COVID-19 infection and transmission is acceptable on your campus and in your community?

How will you monitor the local level of infection and transmission? What, concretely, are your plans for regular testing and tracing for students, faculty, and staff?

What happens if your testing reveals that you have exceeded the acceptable level of infection and transmission? Will you send students home? Lock them down on campus?

How will you safely house and treat community members who test positive? Will you provide quarantine housing and treatment for COVID-positive faculty and staff as well as students to discourage community transmission?

Have you sourced sufficient PPE? How many masks will you provide each student, faculty, and staff member? What sort? How will you distribute them? (Same questions about cleaning materials.)

Is masking a recommendation or a requirement? If a community member refuses to mask up, what will the consequences be? Will campus security enforce masking? Will faculty and staff be allowed to refuse service to community members who do not observe health standards?

Are your HVAC systems sufficiently filtered to protect against transmission between rooms, particularly in dorms?

Do you have a system to help community members self-monitor for symptoms? Will you ask community members to take their own temperatures before coming into public?

Do you have a system to allow community members to report symptoms if they develop?

How will you help community members self-quarantine due to symptoms or exposure? Will you provide sick pay for hourly workers? Online instruction for students? Substitute and/or online options for instructors?

Are you providing accommodations to allow high-risk community members to avoid infection? If so, how do you define high-risk? Do your accommodations include a guarantee that high-risk students will be able to take all classes online?

If you’re asking instructors to simultaneously provide both in-person and online instruction, are you compensating them for the additional effort?