LBCC is taking advanced necessary steps to prepare for possible school shut down following the spread of the coronavirus, or COVID-19, with several confirmed cases in Long Beach.
As of Monday, Long Beach officials confirmed the first three cases of COVID-19 belonging to two men and a woman at Long Beach Memorial Care Center.
This was following the self-quarantine of ten CSULB students who were at risk for infection after attending a Washington D.C. conference, where one other attendee tested positive.
Areas struck the hardest by the COVID-19 virus include all of California, Seattle, and New York, and some major universities have begun replacing in-person courses with online instruction in order to reduce the risk of viral transmission.
Universities that have shutdown due to the coronavirus include UC Berkeley, Stanford University, Harvard University and Hofstra University in the East Coast.
The school closures are significant measures against the disease, as in the United States, 26 deaths and 624 cases of COVID-19 had been reported since Monday.
The worldwide death toll is now at 4,025 and continues to grow, worrying many who fear there will be no end in sight to this pandemic.
LBCC Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Kathleen Scott sent an email to colleagues on Wednesday, Sept. 4, in order to address updates on emergency remote teaching plans.
In the email that is now available to students on the LBCC website, Scott wrote, “In an abundance of caution, we are developing plans for a variety of potential situations, including remote teaching.”
“LBCC is just one of many community colleges that are acting responsibly to prepare for all possible scenarios in the best interests of our students. We have done research on best practices at other institutions and will continue gathering information as we monitor the situation,” Scott said.
During a phone interview on Tuesday, Scott shared information regarding how COVID-19 has impacted LBCC.
“There are currently no confirmed cases of coronavirus infection on the LBCC campus, so for now it’s business as usual,” Scott said.
Scott also addressed barriers that could hinder the education of students in an online setting, such as the inability to access the Canvas website, not having access to computers, disabilities and lack of equipment and software for certain classes such as art, welding, and sports to name a few.
“How we could work with those departments is still under discussion. We don’t have the answers, but we are asking our instructors to be as creative as possible,” Scott said.
According to Scott, classes cannot be cancelled outright.
“There needs to be a certain amount of instruction needed to receive credit for courses, prerequisites in order to obtain a certain amount of knowledge, and when transferring, and we want to make sure we’re protecting our students in that way too.”
Scott also said faculty and students must be taught how to navigate our online system, “Currently we have two workshops a day for faculty and additional workshops are to be prepared. Students can prepare more by using QUEST for online instruction.”
QUEST can be reached through the LBCC online student readiness website and it is a free and ungraded self-paced course for students, designed to help them prepare for online remote learning.
Dr. Hussam Kashou, the Associate Dean of Online Learning and Technology did not return an interview request through public representative Stacey Toda for comment.
Scott emphasized the presence of the COVID-19 response team, and assured students that deep cleaning of high traffic areas are being conducted daily and additional emergency supplies are available on campus.
“We have to be responsible. Our biggest concern is for the safety of students and also staff and faculty.”
Some staff at LBCC remain hopeful that the COVID-19 virus will not affect the school, and want to focus more on prevention rather than a shutdown.
Brian Doan, a photography professor at LBCC whose mother died two weeks ago from a different strain of coronavirus, spoke about his hopes for LBCC students to be responsible for their health and for the virus itself.
“The COVID-19 is like biological warfare. It’s an invisible enemy, it’s contagious and we don’t have a cure yet. The last thing we want is to shut down the school, but unfortunately as a teacher, we have to touch maybe 60 students a day. I touch the tables, touch cameras, hand them over to everyone,” Doan said.
Doan, who is originally from Vietnam added, “We have a good system, but students have to quarantine themselves, clean their hands in public spaces. You’re your own worst enemy, but if you take care of yourself, you should be okay.”
Beside hopes of seeing students take responsibility for their health, Doan said he wants to see more classrooms have hand sanitizer and cleaning supplies, as it is drastically low outside classrooms.
“These are things that we can do now, before a shutdown, before it spreads. If we shutdown I don’t know what we’ll do. Youtube [to teach lectures] is nice, but we’re in a [photography] darkroom. Student’s can’t see the chemical temperature, look or feel in person, but we do the best that we can. We’re not scared… We’re gonna be strong,” Doan said.
Staff, faculty, employees and students all remain hopeful that a vaccine for COVID-19 will be found soon and though it has already invaded countless other schools, does not invade and shut down LBCC.