[Alert] Campus Advisory for COVID-19 (July 30, 2020)

[Alert] Campus Advisory for COVID-19 (July 30, 2020) 

July 30, 2020

To Students, Faculty and Staff Members:

Risk Management Headquarters
(for COVID-19 Infection Control)
University of the Ryukyus

The number of cases of COVID-19 infection has been increasing in many places in Japan, as domestic traveling and economic activities have been resumed. In Okinawa, the number of infected persons has been significantly increasing, especially in Naha and the central areas since the recent holidays.

The breakdown of recent cases shows that large number of new cases are young people in their twenties and it is also reported that many clusters have occurred through dining at restaurants and caused the spread of infection. Okinawa has faced the same situation.

Under such circumstance, the Risk Management Headquarters is issuing the updated Campus Advisory by adding the details (in red) and the precautions (outline) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology below, in order to avoid risks of infection as much as possible for our students, faculty and staff members.

Although the basic content remains the same, we would like to ask you to consider the recent situations of infection and read this Campus Advisory once again. It is very important to behave with full awareness of “protecting yourself and not infecting others". We deeply appreciate your understanding and cooperation.

1. Health observation

Please observe your health conditions by taking body temperature daily. Please ask your family members who live with you to cooperate and to observe their health conditions as well.
You can download “Health Diary” app or “Health Check Sheet” from the following website: University of the Ryukyus Academic Information System

We strongly request students, faculty and staff members who have a fever or any symptoms of a cold to follow ① and ②. Also, please contact public health center and the University following the “Health Observation Flowchart” attached.
① Rest at home
② Refrain from going out

Even if COVID-19 symptoms have disappeared, do not commute to school/work on your own judgement. Since there are some cases that the patients tested positive on PCR tests after the fever went down, please contact the Health Administration Center or the office of your faculty/center first to ask for the judgment. 

2. Hygiene management and physical distancing (social distancing)

Please take measures for hygiene management and prevention from infection, such as washing hands frequently with soap, practicing cough etiquette, and wearing a face mask, and carrying your own towel. Please maintain 2-meter (1 meter at least) distance between yourself and other people.
Please make sure to wear a mask when attending face-to-face classes(except when it is allowed not to for physical educations, etc.), indoor facilities on and outside campus and going to places where an unspecified people visit, in order to avoid the risk of droplet infection. 

3. Avoiding three Cs and ventilation

Please refrain from going to places where three Cs (1. Closed Space with poor ventilation, 2. Crowded Places with many people nearby and 3. Close-Contact Settings such as close-range conversations) overlap, such as joining events with lots of people and dining with a number of people in closed space.
Please ventilate the space at all times if the weather allows. If possible, open two-way windows for air circulation. (Please note that it is necessary to ventilate even when you are using an air conditioner.)

It is considered that the risk of infection is very high when eating or drinking since you need to take your mask off. As for gathering with food and drink, please use a facility or go to a restaurant where implementing proper measures to prevent infection such as having a spacious enough place to accommodate the number of people and securing proper distance between the seats. Also, please refrain from using or staying long period of time.

4. Travelling (Business trips)

Please check the warnings, restrictions and requests for the municipality of the destination before travelling and follow these information while travelling.

When travelling, please a keep record of the route you have taken, whom you have met and where the meetings have taken place. Please keep a record of your health conditions for two weeks after returning (coming) from outside of Okinawa by using “Health Diary” app or “Health Check Sheet” mentioned in “1. Health observation” and observe any changes in your health conditions.

In principle, faculty and staff members are prohibited to travel to areas where are under the state of emergency, municipalities request to refrain from traveling or Risk Management Headquarters designates (the University Hospital separately designates). If you need to travel to those areas due to the unavoidable circumstances, you need to obtain the permission from the Head of the Faculty/Center.
※As of July 30, no areas are designated by Risk Management Headquarters.

5. Traveling abroad

As a general rule, it is prohibited to travel to countries and regions classified as “Level 2: Avoid non-essential travel” in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Travel Advice and Warning on Infectious Diseases.  Please note that you have to comply with the request of 14-day self-quarantine if you are returning from "quarantine strengthening target areas" as prevention measures.

For those who returned from abroad, such as after studying abroad, you must contact the office of your Faculty/Graduate School and follow the instructions. (Please refer to the attached “Flowchart for Returnees and Visitors”). Please consult with your Faculty/ Graduate School if you have any concerns regarding the continuation of your study or work due to the government’s policy on returnees and visitors from abroad (above mentioned quarantine request, etc.) and above mentioned measures.

6. Accepting foreign researchers

When accepting foreign researchers, please decide after careful consideration with the evaluation of various information such as information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Travel Advice and Warning on Infectious Diseases. Depending on research areas, receiving supervision online and implementing joint research are possible. Please consider alternative methods as well.

7. When students are missing lectures

If a student is infected or suspected to be infected to COVID-19 and the University decided that the student should not be on campus, the University will accept report submission or provide supplementary lectures to support the student instead of treating the student’s absence as nonattendance.

8. Events and seminars

Faculties/centers or faculty/staff members need to cancel or postpone the event they are organizing if it is difficult to take preventive measures such as avoiding three Cs (1. Closed Space with poor ventilation, 2. Crowded Places with many people nearby and 3. Close-Contact Settings such as close-range conversations), maintaining physical distance (social distance), and ventilation.

Please follow the instructions on “2. Restarting the research activities 4) Events and seminars“ of the “Guideline for the research activities while preventing the spread of infection (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, May 14, 2020)” if you are organizing a large nationwide event at an academic conference and so on.

9. Extra-curricular activities

If the students are planning extra-curricular activities, they must receive confirmation from the advisor and report to the University, on the premise that the students take appropriate measures to prevent infection. Please ask Student Support Section for the procedure.

Also, if the students are joining competition or going on a tour in Okinawa or in other prefectures, please submit “Request for Training Camp/ Tour” and follow “New Lifestyle” at the destination.

“New Lifestyle”: https://corona.go.jp/prevention/pdf/en.newlifestyle.pdf

10．Lectures

In principle, lectures are provided online but if taking appropriate measures to prevent infection is possible, some lectures may be provided face-to-face. Changes will be made, such as restricting face-to-face lectures, depending on the changes in situations. Please check how lectures are going to be provided frequently on the Academic Information System (such as Syllabus). Details will be provided on a guideline separately.

If you are using public transportation, please make an effort to prevent the spread of infection, such as by avoiding rush hours. Also, faculty members in charge must be considerate of and give necessary support to the students who have difficulties accessing online lectures and the students who do not wish to attend face-to-face lectures due to the fear of taking risks to be infected with COVID-19.

11．Meetings

We recommend online meetings (using online services, videos, and emails) for meetings within the university. Face-to-face meetings with selected members (all members possible if the meeting size is small) are allowed for important meetings suppose that three Cs (1. Closed Space with poor ventilation, 2. Crowded Places with many people nearby and 3. Close-Contact Settings such as close-range conversations) are avoided.

12．Cleaning and disinfection of the facility and equipment

Faculties/ Centers must place cleaning items and disinfectants. On top of the usual cleaning routine, please wipe and disinfect the frequently touched surfaces. Those include doorknobs, light switches, handrails, chairs, common teaching materials, teaching aids, and IT tools. Please use hypochlorous acid water (you can also dilute the household-use chlorine bleach) for wiping, before and after using the facility and equipment.
Hypochlorous acid water could irritate the skin. It has corrosive and bleaching effect. Please wear gloves when using it and wipe it off with water after using it.

13．Research activities

Please implement research activities after taking measures against the spread of infection. In particular, please implement and restart the minimum necessary research activities, based on the “University of the Ryukyus: Guideline for Restrictions on Activities for Preventing the Spread of COVID-19” and following the “Guideline for the research activities while preventing the spread of infection (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, May 14, 2020)”.

Also, the fund distributing organizations for competitive research funds are making extensions for various procedures and responding to this situation flexibly. Please visit the below website of Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology where information is put together and published.
https://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shinkou/torikumi/mext_00638.html

For your reference

Guideline for consultation and going to a hospital (updated on May 11, 2020)

• If you have severe symptoms of shortness of breath (difficulty breathing), strong feeling of weariness (fatigue) or fever
• If you are at higher risk for severe illness* and have relatively mild cold-like symptoms such as a fever or cough
  *If you are an elderly, receiving dialysis, taking immunosuppressive or anti-cancer medication, or have an underlying medical condition such as diabetes, heart disease, or respiratory disease such as COPD
• Those who do not have the above symptoms, but have mild and persistent cold/flu like symptoms

(If you have any symptoms for more than 4 days, please seek for consultation. As the symptoms vary between individuals, if you think you have a severe condition, we encourage you to seek consultation. That also applies to ones who keep taking antipyretics.)

After the consultation, if you are suspected to have infection of COVID-19, please visit the medical center you are instructed to go.

◆ Returnees and Contact Centers for New Coronavirus
Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare website: in Japanese

Reference Information

It is very important to obtain useful information such as local conditions, infection prevention, measures, support, and care for reducing stress. Please refer to the following websites. (Information with ◎ mark is particularly useful.)

• Examples of Practicing “New Lifestyle” (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare)
  (In Japanese) https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/0000121431_newlifestyle.html
  (In English) https://corona.go.jp/prevention/pdf/en.newlifestyle.pdf

(in Japanese)

• ◎“-For Students- Mental health care related to prevention of the infection spread” (Health Administration Center)
• ◎“-Faculty and Staff Members- Mental health care related to prevention of the infection spread” (Health Administration Center)
• ◎“Illustrations of new coronavirus” (April 1, 2020, The Manichi Newspapers)
• ◎“Maintaining mental health during the pandemic” (Japanese Red Cross Society)
• ◎"Understanding three aspects of new coronavirus – to cut off the negative spiral” (Japanese Red Cross Society)
• “Briefing note on addressing mental health and psychosocial aspects of COVID-19(Inter-Agency Standing Committees: IASC)
• ”Situations of new coronavirus infection in Okinawa Prefecture” (Pref. of Okinawa)
• Guidelines for prevention of the infection according to industry (Cabinet Secretariat)

【Related websites】

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare
• Notices regarding COVID-19 in each prefecture / Telephone consultation services(Prime Minister’s Office of Japan)
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Travel and Overseas Residential Registration
• Message from the President of Japan Association of National Universities

Please make use of this campus advisory and check the updated information including above reference information. Also, please pay careful attention to your personal information and be calm and coolheaded.

Contact details for faculties and departments