Mount Oread Messenger: September 14, 2020

An interview with KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman Email not displaying correctly? [View the web version]( [Mount Oread Messenger]( Good morning! First, thank you for subscribing to the Mount Oread Messenger, a newsletter dedicated to news from the University of Kansas. Since this is the first issue, I want to tell you a bit about me before we get in to today's news. My name is Conner Mitchell, and I took over as the Lawrence Journal-World's KU reporter in February. I graduated from KU in 2019 with degrees in journalism and political science, and have covered KU — either for the student newspaper, the University Daily Kansan, or as an intern for the Journal-World in Spring 2018 — since I was a freshman in college. After I graduated from KU, I accepted a job in Charleston, South Carolina, as a community reporter. But after eight months there I was offered an opportunity I just couldn't pass up: Come home to Lawrence and cover your alma mater. From the beginning, it was a goal of mine to launch this newsletter as a quick and concise way for those interested in KU to get their news (and hopefully inspire you to subscribe to the Journal-World if you don't already). Then, COVID-19 took hold of every bit of our daily lives, and the launch of the Mount Oread Messenger had to be delayed. For now, new editions of this newsletter will show up in your inboxes at 6 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (apart from any breaking news that might happen on the other days). I hope the Mount Oread Messenger will be something you come to rely on for interesting, accurate news about Kansas' flagship university. The University of Kansas is a sprawling institution with a wide impact beyond Kansas, and I am only one reporter — so I need your help to make sure I'm covering everything I need to. If there's something happening — either good or bad — that you think people should or would want to know about, please reach out to me. Replying directly to any Mount Oread Messenger will send me an email, and I will also leave all of my various contact information at the bottom of each newsletter. Thank you all for reading the Journal-World, and if you haven't already, I encourage you to subscribe and read the vital work my coworkers and I are doing — it's $5.95 for the first month, then less than 50 cents per day after that. Today's journalism relies on subscribers so that we continue to have the revenue necessary to bring you the news you depend on. Now, for today's KU News: Colleges and universities across the country have been at the forefront of national headlines of late, as they attempt to reopen for physical instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic, which shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. And KU hasn't avoided being in some of those headlines: The weekend before classes began on Aug. 24, the university made national news for students partying at fraternity and sorority houses without masks and without social distancing; and more recently, undergraduate students organized a strike from classes on Labor Day to protest the campus staying open while COVID-19 cases continue to rise. News outlets, students, staff and faculty members have attempted to analyze every aspect of KU's plan to reopen campus since the university announced on May 1 that it would attempt some form of physical instruction for the fall semester. And while health experts across the country have generally speculated on how open campuses would affect the status of the pandemic, I felt one voice had long been missing from the KU-specific discussion. That voice belongs to Dr. Lee Norman, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. As the state's top health official, Norman is a key figure in how Kansas manages the COVID-19 pandemic (he has the legal authority to order gatherings/businesses/organizations to close if he feels their presence is a danger to the greater public health). And while he has opined generally on college campuses and their impact on COVID-19, he hasn't yet spoken in detail about the numerous aspects of KU's reopening plan. I spoke with Dr. Norman on Friday, and we covered a lot of ground. I'm not going to give all of it away (because I want you to read the full story!) but the key points we touched on are: - The public health challenges facing university administrators - KU's testing for COVID-19, why it's different from other universities in the state, and how the plan will change going forward - Why KU — other than 14 cases attributed to the football team — was absent from KDHE's first list of outbreak locations on Wednesday - And whether there's anything that would prompt him to order KU to close its campus That's all for today (I promise future newsletters won't be this long). See you on Wednesday! [Dr. Lee Norman]( [Norman: KU, other Kansas colleges ‘doing the best they can’ to manage COVID-19 pandemic with limited control, supplies]( Kansas' top health official talks to the Journal-World about the difficulties facing university leaders in reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic, why community surveillance testing is useful, and whether there's anything that would prompt him to order KU or any other university to shut down. [Read the full story here]( IMAGE OF THE DAY [Dashboard]( The new dashboard KU launched Friday afternoon dedicated to COVID-19 data. For the first time, KU is delineating testing data by day, showing the rate of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in Douglas County, and saying how many students are currently in on-campus isolation/quarantine housing. The full dashboard can be viewed at [protect.ku.edu/data]( and will be updated on Tuesdays and Fridays moving forward. (Screenshot/University of Kansas) IN OTHER KU NEWS [KU launches new dashboard for COVID-19 data; total number of confirmed cases now 799]( The new data was the first public update since Sept. 2, and revealed 253 new cases discovered in the nine days since. KU has started a more targeted testing program, meaning positivity rates will likely increase in coming days and weeks. [Picture of Kansas Union]( [KU says it has no record of what team leading reopening decisions talked about for months]( The Pandemic Medical Advisory Team, made up of nine area doctors and health experts — including KU Chancellor Douglas Girod, a medical doctor — has met weekly for months. Pitched publicly as an advisory council, Girod actually told team members they'd be making decisions on campus operations. KU has no record of what they talked about. [Signs]( If you enjoy the Mount Oread Messenger, you can [subscribe to receive it here.]( To reach Mount Oread Messenger author Conner Mitchell, please email cmitchell@ljworld.com or call 785-832-6388. Tips can also be submitted at [Conner's tip form]( or at his secure email address,[connermitchell@protonmail.com](mailto:connermitchell@protonmail.som). [subscribe to the lawrence journal-world here]( This message was sent by the Lawrence Journal-World. You are receiving this because at some point in the past you shared your email address with the Journal-World To opt-out of emails like this, click the link below. [Click here to unsubscribe and manage your email subscriptions.]( Lawrence Journal-World PO Box 888, Lawrence, KS 66044