COVID Response

Health and Safety Measures

Since the onset of the pandemic, the university has taken lengthy steps to protect the campus community.

• Free COVID-19 testing for students and employees: Any OU student, faculty, or staff member may schedule a free COVID-19 test.

• Masking requirement: OU has implemented a university-wide masking policy, which applies to faculty, staff, students, and campus visitors across all three campuses. Students and employees have been provided various types of face masks appropriate to their on-campus responsibilities.

• Chief COVID Officer: OU appointed Dr. Dale Bratzler, a nationally leading expert in infectious diseases and public health, to advise the university on its planning efforts with regard to the virus.

• Voluntary student surveillance testing program: Students living in OU housing who are not reporting symptoms of COVID-19 are encouraged to participate in OU’s voluntary testing program.

• COVID-19 dashboard: OU launched an online dashboard, available at ou.edu/together/dashboard, to track COVID-19 testing data on the Norman campus – a community of more than 38,300 students, faculty, and staff.

• COVID-19 testing requirement prior to move-in: Before the start of the fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters, OU has required all students moving into on-campus housing to be tested for COVID-19 before arriving on campus.

• Social distancing: Classrooms, workspaces, and common areas across campus have been configured to promote social distancing. Additionally, OU Libraries offers two tools to help students gauge study capacity before they arrive at a location.

• Housing modifications: OU has established 300 single-occupancy rooms to decrease dorm density.

• Mandatory online health screening: All OU employees and students must complete the online screening and reporting form when certain scenarios apply, such as testing positive for COVID-19 or suspected exposure.

• Wastewater analysis: OU researchers are conducting regular sampling of wastewater from across campus to help identify areas experiencing higher levels of the virus.

• Enhanced cleaning: Through Clean and Green, OU’s campuses are meticulously cleaned to support the healthiest environment possible. Daily cleaning protocols have been enhanced, with particular emphasis on touch points and common areas. Electrostatic cleaning has been implemented across the university.

• Facility upgrades: Touchless, motion-sensor fixtures have been installed in public restrooms, air filters have been upgraded to hospital-grade standards, and more hand sanitizer stations have been installed across campus.

• Classroom and instructional modifications: OU’s goal is to provide in-person instruction to the greatest extent possible while promoting a safe and secure campus environment. To help accomplish this, class times have been extended throughout the day, and larger classes have been moved online.

• Phased return to campus: To maximize safety, and to prepare for the fall semester on the Norman campus, OU implemented a phased return to campus with phase 1 beginning on May 11, phase 2 on July 6, and phase 3 on Aug. 3.

• Calendar updates: As part of its proactive strategy to safeguard the community, OU announced several modifications to the Norman campus fall 2020 and spring 2021 academic calendars including: moving programs entirely online following Thanksgiving break through the end of the fall 2020 semester; extending winter break by one week, with classes beginning Monday, Jan 25; and canceling spring break.

• Outdoor spaces for classes and groups: Thirty tents have been installed across the Norman campus to supplement indoor common spaces.

• Game day protocols: OU announced tailgating guidelines and game day procedures for the 2020 football season and 2021 spring sports season, with protocols that include reduced capacities at athletics events and requiring masks be worn at all times while on the OU campus.

• Research restart: OU researchers developed and volunteered participation in a pilot return to campus to ensure students, faculty and staff could safely resume in-person instruction in fall 2020.

Community Engagement and Outreach

The OU community is coming together to help lead our campus, state, and nation to a healthier, safer, and more prosperous future.

• OU’s front-line health care teams: From the onset of the pandemic, health professionals at OU Health Physicians and our hospital partner, OU Health, have remained on the front lines of the public health crisis, providing critical care for Oklahomans.

• Public health awareness: Throughout the pandemic, OU has promoted the importance of practicing healthy behaviors, such as mask wearing, frequent hand washing, and social distancing. Behavioral PSAs have been produced for social media, email messages and e-newsletter articles have been regularly distributed to internal audiences, Q&As with OU medical experts have been featured, and signage has been posted across campus. In addition, OU Health launched a public health awareness campaign to help Oklahomans understand how they can help stop the spread of COVID-19.

• Bigger than Bedlam campaign: OU and OSU joined together to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Through the “Bigger than Bedlam” campaign, both schools encouraged students to get tested for COVID-19 before traveling home for the Thanksgiving holiday while continuing healthy behaviors like masking, social distancing, and proper hand hygiene.

• Production of essential medical equipment: In response to COVID-19, a multidisciplinary OU team has united to prototype essential equipment designs – donating manufactured protective gear and patenting a design for a 3D printed face mask. OU costume designers also created cloth face masks that can be sanitized and reused.

• Medical expertise: OU public health and infectious diseases experts are lending their medical knowledge to guide our state through the pandemic, by giving media interviews on the status of the virus and by working side-by-side with our Health Departments to advise the state’s response to the pandemic.

• COVID-19 testing sites: In collaboration with the Fran and Earl Ziegler OU College of Nursing, OU Health Sciences Center, OU Health and the Oklahoma State Department of Health, OU is engaged in offering COVID-19 testing at multiple locations across Oklahoma. 

• Creation of OU Together website: The university launched the OU Together website, designed to provide employees, students, and visitors with up-to-date information and resources during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Financial support: Many OU alumni and friends are donating of their own resources in this uncertain economic time, to benefit our students who have been negatively impacted by the virus.

• Specialized support for international students: COVID-19 has introduced disruptions for all of us, but our international students have experienced disproportionate challenges as a result of the crisis. Over the last several months, the university has prioritized these issues, coordinating advocacy efforts with campus partners and state and federal delegations. OU also launched a task force with the sole intention of actively supporting and advocating for international students, and a fundraising campaign is helping provide much-needed financial assistance to OU international students.

• Creation of virtual activities, meetings: When classes moved online in spring 2020, many campus departments and organizations across the university also adapted, offering services in a virtual format. Virtual tutoring, online diversity webinars, Zoom counseling sessions, and daily Facebook Live workouts are just a few examples of the resources and services that have been continually provided to students to help ensure their success.

• Virtual tours for prospective students: OU Admissions has creatively launched several options for prospective students to get a glimpse of campus from afar, offering virtual tours in a live, student-guided format or a self-guided option.

• Million mask challenge: OU medical students partnered with OU Health to help protect Oklahoma’s health care workers by collecting masks and other essential protective equipment.

• Thank you note program: Students at the OU Health Sciences Center launched a thank you note program to allow members of the OU community to express their gratitude to the front-line medical workers.

• Launch of OU Connect: Recognizing the unique challenges the COVID-19 pandemic was providing for parents and family caregivers, OU launched OU Connect, a person-to-person job posting website that helps students, faculty, and staff who need help caring for a family member.

• Conversation tips during COVID-19: The university developed conversation tips to help encourage students, faculty, and staff to take positive steps when they see others taking actions that are not consistent with university policy related to COVID-19.

• OU Food Pantry: The OU Food Pantry created an online ordering system and implemented new health and safety protocols to help keep clients and staff safe.

Research

OU scientists and physicians are contributing research efforts to the fight against COVID-19 in a variety of ways.

• Vaccine clinical trials: OU medical researchers are working on two vaccines for the coronavirus, and also have six clinical trials underway.

• Virus prediction models: OU researchers on the Norman and Health Sciences Center campuses are working with the governor to protect Oklahomans by using predictive modeling, including novel modeling for rural communities, to help predict the spread of the virus.

• Social media research: OU researchers are studying the impact of misinformation shared on social media on the public’s response to COVID-19.

• Coronavirus outbreak forecasts: An OU interdisciplinary group of researchers, funded by a NASA grant, is studying how coronaviruses emerge and is developing measures to forecast future infectious disease outbreaks.

• COVID-19 treatment: OU researchers and OU Health physicians are studying how computed tomography imaging can guide the current and future treatment of COVID-19.

• App for cancer patients: OU cancer researchers are creating an app that will monitor the well-being of cancer patients during the pandemic. The app will help assess the health of patients and their risk for having newly contracted COVID-19.

• PCR COVID-19 testing: Researchers at the OU Health Sciences Center developed an Oklahoma PCR COVID-19 test, the most accurate of all types of COVID-19 tests. 

• Rapid testing: OU scientists are assisting diagnostic partners to develop new rapid testing.

• New treatment protocols: OU infectious diseases experts are working to develop new treatment protocols for the coronavirus.

• Impact of COVID-19 on families and teachers: The OU-Tulsa Early Childhood Education Institute conducted a study of Tulsa-area first graders to understand how COVID-19 impacted the financial, physical, and mental health of students, parents, and teachers during the first three months of the pandemic.