One year ago, UTC closed its campus while students were on spring break due to the coronavirus that hadn't yet arrived in Hamilton County. Classes transitioned to fully remote learning, and students did not return to campus until the first day of the fall semester in August.
This year, students do not have a traditional spring break, but will have a spring holiday on April 2. As vaccine eligibility grows and testing continues, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga students and faculty will soon have access to vaccines on campus.
Looking back
Chris Smith, director of UTC's School of Nursing, said the campus response to the pandemic when it first began included positive communication and keeping everyone informed through different implementation teams that address academics, campus life and more.
"What we did with these committees was, we kind of built the plane while we were flying because nobody really had the understanding of what this was, what it was going to be - because nobody really knew what was going to be," Smith said. "So we had some foresight, we saw some things we thought would happen, so we moved to put things in place that would help support the concerns that were coming, but then we also reacted to some as well."
Staff Photo by Matt Hamilton / Dr. Chris Smith, who has received both vaccination shots, talks about the response to COVID-19 at the testing center at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on Wednesday, March 10, 2021. Classes shifted to remote formats with one of two models - synchronous, in which students learn the same material at the same time, or asynchronous, in which they learn on their own timeframe.
Resources such as the counseling center changed to a remote setting and remained available to support students. When tornadoes tore across Hamilton County and surrounding areas last April, damage included the loss of internet access for some students that was required to complete online schooling. The university's library and information technology department created a loan program and provided WiFi cards for some students so those without access could get through the semester, Smith said.
Amid all the changes, Smith said, there have not been a lot of challenges regarding pandemic response because the university has stayed ahead of anticipated issues, such as the need for increased contact tracing and testing.
"Before we even had seen a significant number of cases, we had the ability to hire people for contact tracing," Smith said. "In the beginning, Hamilton County was helping us with our contact tracing, but they got overwhelmed so we just took it on ourselves."
Other measures include operating the routine testing center and conducting move-in testing for students starting the return to campus after winter break. The routine testing center began randomly testing 1,000 students and faculty per week on Feb. 8.
"They come in, they sit down, they swab their own nose and the test we use, the Abbott BinaxNOW cards, take about 15 minutes," said Anna Smartt, routine testing site coordinator. "They get the result, and they're out the door."
Staff Photo by Matt Hamilton / Nurse practitioner Anna Smartt, left, talks to students Isabella Puncochar and Matthew Stocks about how to self-administer the nasal swab at the testing center at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on Wednesday, March 10, 2021.
Looking ahead
Soon, qualifying students and faculty will be able to access vaccines on campus in a similar manner as testing.
UTC ordered the vaccine this week and would start vaccinating qualifying UTC students and faculty in one of two vaccination sites the week after receiving it if everything goes as planned, Smith said.
"The one thing we've learned from this whole process is to be flexible, and we have Plan A, B and C," she said.
Smith said UTC has been in communication with the state about becoming a vaccination site since November and decided to focus vaccine distribution on the campus community for now.
Nursing students have volunteered to work in the contact tracing lab and routine testing site and will help with vaccines. Additionally, staff and students will receive a notification with a method to sign up for getting the vaccine, similar to emails they receive about testing.
"We have had a tremendous number of students who have volunteered or through their community clinical course have helped with testing and then given vaccines at the health department site," Smith said. "I took a group of students out several weeks ago. We have one faculty member who takes a group of students every weekend, so our students have really been hands-on."
Contact Anika Chaturvedi at achaturvedi@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592.