Updated March 11, 2020

Posted March 11, 2020 at 10:43 a.m.

On March 10, 2020, Governor Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency in North Carolina in response to coronavirus (COVID-19). The declaration activates the Emergency Operations Center to help agencies coordinate from one location and makes it easier to purchase needed medical supplies, protect consumers from price gouging, and increase county health departments’ access to state funds. It also increases the state public health department’s role in supporting local health departments. Read the full press release here.

While we are currently operating under normal conditions, we remain in close contact with local and state public health, as well as UNC System officials. As the incident has evolved, planning has been enhanced, and members of the university’s Emergency Management Task Force are identifying resources and planning for a variety of scenarios.

Please note the information below:

• Building Services staff have increased frequency of cleaning, and have ensured EPA-registered hospital disinfectants are consistently used to clean residence halls, classrooms, laboratory spaces, offices, public spaces and other facilities and equipment. There is no shortage of EPA-registered cleaning products on campus.
• With regard to any coronavirus-related expenses that your respective divisions may incur, please instruct your departments to continue covering these expenses with existing available funds, while also ensuring that these costs are being properly tracked and documented. Prior to fiscal year-end, these charges will be reviewed and qualified expenses may be transferred over to a central emergency management fund. Questions about this may be directed to the Budget Office staff, which can be contacted here.
• Compassion is key. It is important to remember that students, faculty and staff may have friends, family and loved ones in areas that are at higher risk than in the United States and remain compassionate to their worries and concerns about their loved ones.
• Check your facts. Rumors and incorrect information are circulating on social media and in other settings. It is important to rely on official sources of information for facts about COVID-19 and not to share unconfirmed information. More information about App State's COVID-19 resources.

We will share more operational information as soon as it becomes available.

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