Last month, we asked you whether you had been vaccinated or were intending to get vaccinated against Covid-19 and overwhelming you told us ‘yes’. Over 94% of you have had one or both doses of the vaccine. Vaccination is one of the best ways that you can keep yourself and those around you as safe as possible, so thank you for helping to protect all of us at BU. If you are still undecided about getting vaccinated, take a look at the information on our website to help you make an informed decision.
You may have heard the interview earlier this week with Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, and his warnings of a tough winter ahead. Locally, case numbers are at a high level and sadly increasing at the current time. Aside from vaccination, there are a few key things we can do to reduce transmission of the virus. These include washing your hands or using sanitiser regularly, keeping a safe distance from people who you don’t usually come into contact with and, of course, wearing a face covering in enclosed spaces. Face coverings continue to be something you must wear when indoors on our campuses. We want to keep campus open and running as usual and for you to continue to have face-to-face teaching. Of course, this means that we need staff to be well and able to work on site. We can all forget sometimes, but if you are reminded by another student or a member of staff to put on your face covering, please treat that person with respect and kindness. They may have health risks or have vulnerable people who they support and they are entitled to ask you to wear a face covering, if you aren’t and are not exempt from doing so. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
We continue to have supplies of face coverings in buildings across the campuses, but we are all reminded by the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow that disposable masks are having a detrimental effect on our environment. If you can, please do bring a reusable face covering from home when you come to campus.
Test kits are still available to collect from both campuses and please do report your results. After each test, you should upload the result to the government website and if you test positive, you must also let BU know. There is a range of support available for you if you need to self-isolate and if you have any questions or concerns, you can get in touch with AskBU.
