ANNOUNCEMENTS
8/12/21
Dear Phagans’ Team & Students,
First and foremost, I hope you and your families are healthy and well. As most of you know, the Governor of Oregon instituted a state wide mask mandate again that will officially begin for all schools and businesses Friday August 13th. This mandate is for all indoor public places and regardless of vaccination status. In addition, we are going to begin re-instating some of our own safety protocols.
For the time being this means:
- More frequent sanitation of high touch areas
- Regular hand washing reminders will again be announced hourly
- 6 feet social distancing when you are outside, still on or near campus, and around others with your mask off
- Student Lunch areas are once again closed for all students
- Staff may eat inside the building, but only one staff member at a time in the designated eating area
- When it is not too hot or smoky then we will be opening some doors for cross ventilation purposes throughout the day
Why is this happening? For two reasons, one because of the Delta variant of Covid-19. It is 2-3 times more contagious, meaning all of us can spread it more easily, and it is causing more severe illness to unvaccinated individuals. This includes children under the age of 12 that are not yet eligible for one of the vaccines. Two, not enough people got vaccinated quickly enough and now covid-19 is spreading uncontrollably among the unvaccinated. The surge and severity of this variant of covid is causing more people, especially more young people to need hospitalization. Hospitals are already short staffed and now, with the increase in covid-19 hospitalized patients, they are reaching capacity limits. This impacts ALL of us! If hospital ICU’s are full it makes it very difficult for them to treat the critically injured (think car accidents) or those with true medical emergencies (ie strokes and heart attacks). The hospital in Bend has canceled all non-emergency operations. It is showcasing that the individual decisions people make impact their entire communities.
As institutions of higher education we are required to promote vaccine awareness and importance. Arnab Mukherjea, chair of the Department of Public Health at California State University, East Bay, said that up to 99 percent of people experiencing severe illness from COVID-19 are unvaccinated. Quite frankly, required or not, we do NOT want to see any of our students or team members severely ill with this deadly virus. Therefore, if you have questions about the covid-19 vaccine, please get them answered as soon as possible and schedule some time to get your shot. Here is just one link to find a vaccine in Oregon: https://govstatus.egov.com/find-covid-19-vaccine
Sending you all wishes of health and wellness!
Thank You for your time and consideration,
Kristie Davis
Phagans’ Cosmetology Colleges
Co-Owner, VP & CFO

-Image from Brene Brown