Return to Campus Newsletter

Dear Bentley Community,

This week marks the start of the new academic year. With new and returning residential students moved in and screening testing underway at the Miller Lot testing site, we’re off to a smooth start to the fall 2020 trimester. Ensuring that campus remains healthy and safe will take the collective efforts of all members of our community. This week’s newsletter will share some helpful tips to ensure we do just that.

Wristbands
All students who are enrolled in Bentley’s screening test program are required to wear a wristband indicating that they are current with their testing. Wristbands will change colors each week to reflect continued participation and will be given to students at the time of testing. If you’re part of the weekly screening program, remember to always wear your wristbands and not lend them to others. Students without current yellow or red wristbands will not be allowed to attend in-person classes or be on campus.

Scheduling Testing Appointments
To help clarify the process for scheduling screening tests each week, we’ve created bentley.edu/testing—a one stop landing page with instructions and a downloadable reference guide. This new page has been added to the Back to Bentley website for easy access. From this new page, you can log into Bentley’s Health Portal to change your test time or set text message reminders for each week’s appointment.

Wear your Face Covering Properly
As previously shared, face coverings are required in most cases on campus. As we start the fall trimester, it’s important that we remind all members of our community of the need to properly wear a mask or cloth face covering that fully covers the mouth and nose. Also, face coverings should not be removed when in conversation.
 

When surveyed, 96% of responding residential students strongly agreed that it was their responsibility to protect others in the community by following COVID-19 prevention policies. If you see a friend, colleague or peer not wearing their face covering properly, give them a friendly reminder of the importance of this policy to the success of the fall trimester.

COVID-19 Testing Dashboard
Last week, I shared that a member of our community tested positive for the coronavirus. As the trimester moves forward, we’ll be sharing our testing totals and results on our COVID-19 Testing Dashboard. Thus far, we’ve conducted 4,470 tests. Be sure to check that site each week for the most up-to-date totals.

I’m looking forward to sharing more updates with our entire community as the fall moves forward. Thanks for all that you’re doing to maintain a healthy and safe campus. As always, continue to check the Back to Bentley website for additional new content and updates.

Geoffrey C. Bartlett, CEM
Director of Emergency Management