By rdnewsNOW Staff

Safety A Priority

Red Deer Polytechnic implements COVID-19 protocols for fall term

Aug 24, 2021 | 2:37 PM

Red Deer Polytechnic (RDP) continues preparations for more students and employees to return to its campuses safely this fall.

The post-secondary institution has identified several ongoing COVID-19 protocols that it will ask individuals who attend its campuses to adhere to, in an effort to help reduce the spread of the virus:

Required Protocols

• Face coverings are required in all learning spaces (classrooms, labs, studios and shops). Within learning spaces, college officials say it is often not possible to maintain a two-metre physical distance. In addition, people are in contact with each other in these spaces for longer than 15 minutes, which is the current Government of Alberta guidance on close contacts for contact tracing purposes.
• Individuals should check-in each day they will be on campus using the COVID-19 Contact Tracing and Alberta Daily Health Checklist available on the SAFE RDC App.
• Individuals should stay home if they are ill, and complete an illness reporting form if they exhibit COVID-19 symptoms, have had a close contact or have received a positive COVID-19 result
• Individuals should wash their hands and/or use hand sanitizer regularly. More than 300 hand sanitizer stations have been installed throughout the campuses.

Strongly Encouraged Protocols

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• Maintain a two-metre physical distance from one another whenever possible.
• Wear a face covering in all other areas on campus, especially when a two-metre distance cannot be maintained
• Consider receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, as it suits an individual’s health and wellness circumstances.

Red Deer Polytechnic will host immunization clinics on September 8 and 9 on main campus, in collaboration with AHS and Alberta Health.

“It’s really important to continue being responsible and to continue thinking about the people around you,” says Savannah Snow, President, Students’ Association of Red Deer Polytechnic. “I know that these have been really difficult times but we are starting to move forward. So the way that we act and the way that we conduct ourselves in the next coming months are going to be really crucial to keeping that curve flat.”

In addition, college officials say RDP continues to do its part to help keep students, faculty, staff and visitors as healthy and safe as possible during the pandemic, through measures such as enhanced cleaning, contract tracing, signage to help direct traffic flow, and frequent communications to provide access to COVID-19 information and resources.

The post-secondary institution, however, will not implement rapid testing of individuals who are symptomatic or asymptomatic for COVID-19.

“From a logistics point of view, we did not feel that we had the personnel capacity to execute rapid testing on a frequent basis, as has been suggested by other institutions (University of Alberta, University of Calgary, University of Lethbridge),” explains Dr. Peter Nunoda, President of Red Deer Polytechnic. “In fact, I believe that they’re going to be hard-pressed to deploy the rapid testing. We just didn’t feel that that was a practical solution for us.”

Nunoda admits that proof of vaccination was also a consideration.

“But again, from a logistical standpoint, it’s difficult to know precisely how we would ask them to provide that documentation,” adds Nunoda. “As you’re aware, there isn’t a provincial vaccination passport as yet, so the documentation would have been all over the place, depending on whether or not students were immunized in the AHS clinics or private pharmacies. So consistency and verification of that documentation, we felt would be very challenging.”

RDP will continue to adapt its protocols and operations during the coming months, as needed, monitoring the dynamic situation presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

While more students and employees are anticipated to safely attend the institution’s campuses in person, the post-secondary institution is also providing students with greater flexibility in their studies, as more courses than in past years are being offered online or hy-flex. Hy-flex delivery provides students with opportunities to select on-site or online learning, where possible.

In some instances where valuable hands-on learning such as shops and labs are key components of the immersive educational experience, students will need to attend classes in person. Also, services for students will continue to be provided both in-person and online, to allow greater choice for students.

Red Deer Polytechnic’s fall 2021 term begins next week.