COVID-19 Town Hall Information

Virtual COVID-19 Town Hall Reminder: Thursday, Oct. 1 at 3 p.m.

Dear Campus Community,

Join us for our COVID-19 Town Hall tomorrow, Oct. 1 at 3 p.m. There is now a dedicated COVID-19 Town Hall webpage with upcoming Town Hall Webex links and past Town Hall recordings. Please refer to this page for the latest Town Hall information moving forward.

If you have questions for the COVID-19 Response Team, please email covidquestions@msubillings.edu. The team will reply to your email questions in a timely manner. Note that similar questions emailed from multiple individuals will be addressed during the Town Hall, however not all email questions will be. Please also use the chat feature in Webex to ask questions. Depending on the volume of questions during the Town Hall, we may have to respond to some questions via email afterwards due to time constraints.

"See" you all tomorrow at 3 p.m.

Campus COVID-19 Information, Town Halls & Flu Shots

Dear Campus Community,

Yesterday, we completed our second COVID-19 Town Hall. We corrected last week’s audio issues and this week seemed to go extremely well. Thanks for your patience.

COVID continues to challenge us with changing information and guidelines at both the national and local levels. I want to thank you all for taking time to catch these important campus updates and new information. If you have suggestions on how we can improve the Town Halls, feel free to share them with me directly or email them to covidquestions@msubillings.edu.

Going forward, our response team will endeavor to answer questions sent to covidquestions@msubillings.edu in a timely fashion as they come in. Similar questions that are received will be addressed in the Town Hall. We will ensure that any questions sent to us via email will be kept confidential.

I also want to address a few other items below:

Ordering disinfecting and safety supplies: Each classroom and meeting room on our campuses are equipped with a robust “Cleaning Caddy” which holds disinfecting and safety supplies. Should you notice that these items are running low in a specific room, please email covidfacilities@msubillings.edu to let them know where they need restock. Also, if your department is running low on disinfecting and safety supplies, please complete this ordering form.

MSUB’s Voluntary COVID-19 Self-Reporting Form:  Should you test positive for COVID-19, please consider completing our Voluntary COVID-19 Self-Reporting Form. Your responses will assist our COVID-19 Response Team in taking swift and proper action to ensure additional disinfecting and safety protocols are implemented immediately. Since this is a voluntary form, we cannot require you to complete it, but hope that you do if necessary, to help us protect our community. We will ensure confidentiality to the best of our ability; however, we cannot guarantee complete confidentiality due to activities that may need to occur to ensure the health and safety of our campus community.

Get your flu shot: It is important to get your flu shot every year, but especially this year as we are in the midst of a pandemic. I encourage everyone to get the flu shot to minimize your risk of contracting the flu and COVID-19 simultaneously, as this could become a serious health issue. The flu shot is at no cost to employees through our MUS insurance if you use an in-network pharmacy. Employees covered by the MUS plan can also receive a free flu shot during the WellCheck event October 27-29 in the Glacier Room between the hours of 6:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Remember to bring your insurance card.

Our students can receive a flu shot through our Student Health Services for $20 cash, check, or it can be billed to their student account. Have them contact Student Health Services at 657-2153 to schedule an appointment. We are also working to get a student flu shot clinic on campus. More information will be forthcoming.

I understand that this is a stressful and challenging time for us all. It is vital that we take time to prioritize our wellness every day and nurture our mental health. It is very easy for our emotions to be heightened, as the future of the pandemic is uncertain.

I encourage everyone to work together, now more than ever on solutions for improving our campus health and safety. We need to continue to think and act as an orchestra, each of us different, but necessary to the symphony that is a successful fall semester. It is also important to treat everyone with kindness and speak and act with grace and humanity toward each other.

We are in this together, and together we will do great things.

Stay safe and well,

Rolf Groseth