Ohio State extends its state of emergency another week. Credit: Casey Cascaldo | Former Managing Editor for Multimedia
Ohio State will require daily health reports from all who intend to be on university campuses, extend its hiring freeze and cancel all university-sponsored travel through the end of the year, the university announced Saturday.
In a universitywide email, Ohio State announced that all fall-semester education abroad programs and university travel must be canceled and the pause on off-cycle salary increases has been extended through Dec. 31. Recent Ohio State graduates, whose in-person May 3 commencement was canceled, will be receiving their diplomas by mail in the coming weeks.
Ohio State will also require all students, faculty and staff this fall to perform a daily health check — including body temperature and overall status — and report results through the Ohio State app or compass.osu.edu. Accommodations will be made for those without access to the appropriate technology, and the reporting process is currently being tested through a pilot program on some on-campus employees.
The university is also piloting a COVID-19 swab testing program for some employees currently on campus and some returning to campus this summer.
Drake said in the email that the university will extend the state of emergency to June 27 due to COVID-19. The state of emergency, which was originally announced March 22 and is reviewed on a weekly basis, allows leaders at Ohio State to use Disaster Leave (Policy 6.28).
All university travel has been restricted since March 11. These restrictions have been extended, including for autumn education abroad programs, through Dec. 31. According to the email, the university will monitor guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security for determining future programs.
“We look forward to students returning to these important teaching-and-learning experiences once it is advisable to do so,” the email stated.
While many university offices and departments are still working remotely, the Office of Commencement and Special Events will return to campus to mail out diplomas starting next week, the email stated. The university hopes to mail all diplomas within the week.
