A recurring theme from the last semester, UNF faculty again have major safety concerns regarding COVID-19 as the Spring semester begins, as detailed in an open letter to Interim President Chally. The Omicron variant is causing a large number of infections across the world, and the United Faculty of Florida (UFF-UNF) are asking the UNF administration to react.

Amid students’ return to campus last week, UFF-UNF detailed a slew of requests ranging from COVID-19 policies to faculty support. The overarching message was a call on the University to take crucial steps in response to the increasing threat of Omicron.

At the time the above letter was written, UNF students hadn’t even begun classes yet. UFF-UNF’s concern arose from a report by the University of Florida (UF) that predicted a massive increase in Omicron cases throughout the remaining month of January.

The prediction of this report seems to be coming true, as UNF did see a large surge in COVID-19 cases among on-campus students and faculty in the week of students returning to campus.

One of the suggestions in the letter is for additional masks being available. Additional masks for faculty were indeed purchased by the university, and they were expected to arrive on Tuesday, January 12.

Read the entire UFF-UNF open letter here. 

Spinnaker has reached out to both UFF-UNF and Interim President Chally for their thoughts on the matter and will update as soon as more information is available. 

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