Students, Faculty, Residents, Staff, Alumni, Board Members and Friends,
Good morning on a cold Christmas Eve morning from Elkins Park. The campus has been pretty quiet with students headed home and faculty and staff completing their end of semester chores.
The campus and clinics will be closed next week to give everyone some well-deserved time off to rest, relax and recharge with families and friends. I, for one, have been looking forward to the respite!
As we continue to closely monitor the upsurge of the Omicron variant, please continue to be vigilant in wearing your mask when around crowds indoors and outside and when indoors when not with your normal circle of friends and family. Also, social distance when you can and continue to wash your hands frequently. Continuing to take these basic preventive steps will help to keep everyone healthy and safe.
I know there may be questions concerning what we will be doing on campus following the holiday break. After the break, we will again de-densify the university in order to allow for the continuation of in-person classes, labs and clinics. Since each of our programs have different requirements, deans and directors will determine if their classes will be in-person, hybrid or virtual. All labs and clinics will remain in-person. Students can expect communications from their programs shortly as to how their classes will be conducted at the start of Spring semester. Our random COVID testing protocols will continue on campus with the start of the semester, with more details to follow in early January.
Finally, the Navy has had a long-standing tradition that whoever has the “watch” on Christmas Eve was expected to write a poem in the ship’s logbook that was based on the poem, “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”. We continued that tradition in our Naval hospitals and other shore-based locations. In sharing this tradition at Salus, I leave you with this as you prepare to enjoy the holidays:
‘Twas the day before Christmas, when all through the campus,
Not a student was stirring in clinics or classes;
The finals were finished, the grades were prepared,
In hopes that an “A” soon would be there;
The pandemic continues its march through the year,
And even with that, we have all persevered;
With most of us vaxxed and boosters in sight,
New therapeutics will sure ease our plight.
Past Alpha, and Delta and Omicron too;
We hope for no masks and toasting with you.
For now, masks and distancing make up our norm,
Handwashing, and testing online through the storm.
While we wait for that time when all will be right,
Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa to all and to all a good night!
Have a great holiday. Stay safe, get some rest and continue to be SALUS STRONG!
Mike
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