COVID Procedures for Spring 2022
COVID-19 Procedures for Students and Employees for Spring 2022
CMC will begin the spring 2022 semester under the same guidelines that worked well for students, faculty and staff in the fall. This includes wearing masks indoors and avoiding entering CMC facilities when symptomatic with COVID-19. Additional details regarding the college’s COVID-19 procedures can be found below.
Crush COVID Commitments
COVID, particularly the highly transmissible Omicron variant, is a threat to everyone in our mountain communities. Help us keep crushing COVID by following these important precautions.
Masking Procedures
The following procedures will be observed until further notice:
- Masks will be required for all, regardless of vaccine status, when in shared indoor campus environments.
- Physical distancing will not be required except when necessary to address actual or potential infections.
- Masks may be removed when in a private office, in a residence hall room (for residence hall students), or when eating or drinking.
- Outside groups (non-CMC) that use CMC rooms for their meetings or events must wear face coverings when in public spaces such as hallways or restrooms but may follow prevailing county health guidelines if they are different than those in place at CMC when in a room closed to the public.
- Masks will be optional when outdoors.
- Instructors who choose to teach courses outside may do so without face coverings.
- Persons with medical conditions that prevent them from wearing masks should contact the campus disability coordinator (for students) or Human Resources (for employees) to discuss the process for verifying the condition and identifying potential accommodations.
Symptom Monitoring and COVID-19 Testing
- Anyone exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 — fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, or diarrhea — is expected to STAY HOME and get tested!
- To assist those with limited health care options or those who cannot access one of the many free testing sites, the college will pay for COVID-19 testing for faculty, staff and enrolled students needing this service in order to return to work or the classroom.
- Students seeking a reimbursement for COVID-19 testing should submit a copy of their itemized invoice/receipt to payments@coloradomtn.edu.
- Faculty and staff seeking a reimbursement for COVID-19 testing should follow the college’s expense reimbursement process, which also requires an itemized invoice/receipt.
Isolation and Quarantine Procedures
In cases of known or suspected exposure, Colorado Mountain College will follow the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s (CDPHE) isolation and quarantine guidelines, including the following:
- Anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19 or develops symptoms of COVID-19, including early or mild symptoms, should isolate (stay home) for at least five days, regardless of vaccination status.
- Those with no or improving symptoms and no fever may leave isolation after five days but should continue to wear a mask around others for five additional days.
- If, after five days, anyone still has a fever or symptoms haven’t improved should remain in isolation until no fever is present for at least 24 hours (without using medicine that reduces fevers) AND other symptoms have improved (for example, when your cough or shortness of breath have improved.)
Those with no symptoms when testing positive, but later developed symptoms, should continue to isolate for at least five days after the onset of symptoms or until symptoms improve as described above.
Those who completed their primary vaccination series (<6 months after a second shot of Pfizer or Moderna or <2 months after Johnson & Johnson) or have received a booster dose, do not need to isolate when exposed to COVID-19 unless symptoms develop. These individuals should wear a mask around others for 10 days and get tested five days after exposure or immediately if symptoms develop.
Vaccine Clinics
Many CMC campuses will host vaccination clinics during the first week of classes, either on campus or in their communities. These clinics will be open to all and publicized on the CMC Trail Map site. We hope that the convenience of receiving a vaccine on campus will encourage others to protect themselves, their neighbors and their classmates.
Student and Employee Conduct
Employees and students are expected to adhere to the procedures outlined in this document. Individuals observing incidents in violation of the procedures herein should submit a CMC Cares report. These reports allow college personnel to address concerning behavior quickly and efficiently.
In addition, the conduct of CMC students is governed by the Student Code of Conduct. According to the code, CMC students are expected to behave in ways that do not interfere with either an instructor’s ability to conduct a class or the ability of students to benefit from instruction. When outside of classrooms, students are also expected to conduct themselves in ways that maintain order and do not disrupt the operation of the institution or infringe on the rights of other members of the college community, subject only to reasonable time, place and manner restrictions.
We want to hear from students and encourage them to share their concerns with campus and college leadership. However, we ask that members of the CMC community share their concerns with college officials outside of classroom environments.
Similarly, employees with legitimate concerns with college procedures are encouraged to file a grievance with the Office of Human Resources.
CMC students, faculty and staff with questions about the college’s COVID-19 procedures should submit their inquiries through the questionnaire on the CMC Trail Map site. CMC leadership will gather these questions and share answers through its “Frequently Asked Questions,” which is available on the Trail Map site. The FAQs site will be updated periodically.