Frequently Asked Questions about Ottawa County's Stay In Place Order

Updated September 18

Starting September 18, students who complete their self-assessment every day including weekends, for the rest of the semester will earn $200 toward the Winter 2021 semester. Students who will be graduating after Fall semester will be rewarded for this semester in January 2021.

The number of positive cases within our community has trended down for the last couple of days after leveling off last week. In spite of the recent trend, the overall positive numbers for Grand Valley since the opening of the Fall semester have been concerning to both university community members and public health officials.

It is critical that people who are part of our community understand the details of the GVSU plan to mitigate the virus.

• For each positive case, county health officials, with university support, will conduct contact tracing to notify all those potentially connected to infected individuals. This has uncovered asymptomatic people who went first to quarantine, got tested, and if positive, went into isolation. This plan is catching asymptomatic cases earlier and helping to stop the spread one positive test at a time. Although cases initially grew rapidly, the past week of data shows decreasing numbers.

The OCDPH order outlined the difficulty the department is having getting students to share their close contacts and those potentially exposed to the virus.

• Please cooperate with contact tracing when you test positive. This is not to “catch” students who may have been at a gathering; it is only to stop the spread. Contact tracing helps identify those who may have contracted the virus, so they can take appropriate action.

The Ottawa County Department of Public Health (OCDPH), in cooperation with Ottawa County and Grand Valley State University, has issued a "Staying in Place" order for GVSU students living and studying in Allendale Township to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

The two-week order begins September 17 and lasts through October 1. 

The order directs students in Allendale Township to remain in their on-campus or off-campus housing except to attend class, utilize food services, obtain groceries or medicine and medical care, for worship and religious practices, intercollegiate medically supervised athletic practices, or for employment. 

Staying in Place required actions:

• All GVSU students attending classes at the Allendale Campus will be required to wear a mask at all times, indoors and outdoors, if in public both on and off-campus. 
• In-person gatherings with non-household members are strictly prohibited for the duration of this order. Under no circumstances are visitors permitted in on- or off-campus housing for the duration of the order. 
• Students will be allowed to leave their room/residence for purposes of physical activity in groups of no more than two with strict adherence to preventive measures. 
• Students can attend in-person classes, including labs and physical education classes with strict adherence to preventive measures.
• Students can leave their room or residence to pick up food and other basic needs, go to medical appointments, pick up medication, attend religious practice activities or obtain COVID-19 testing with strict adherence to preventive measures.
• Students can attend work with the approval of the employer if the work is essential and cannot be done remotely with strict adherence to preventive measures.
• Students can have clinical rotations, student teaching or other off-campus experiential learning assignments to continue only with approval from the college dean and disclosure to the organization of placement and renewed approval by that organization with strict adherence to preventive measures.
• The Order is limited to Allendale Township both in terms of GVSU students who reside within it or those GVSU students who are non-residents and travel to be on the Allendale campus for the duration they are in the township. Once a non-resident GVSU student exits Allendale Township, the Order does not apply.

Read more about the Staying in Place order and find answers to frequently asked questions about the order.

View the Ottawa County Department of Public Health Order

Self-Assessment

Creating a safer environment is a shared responsibility among all who come to GVSU and its off-campus partners. The university is encouraging personal responsibility by providing education, supplies, and resources to assist individuals in following public health guidance and university policy.  As part of our work toward a safe environment, a web-based self-assessment (accessed by phone, tablet or computer) is available for faculty, staff and students. 

• Due to an executive order from Gov. Whitmer (EO 2020-161), employees must complete a self-assessment on any day they are working on campus.
• Students coming to campus for class or work must complete a self-assessment before coming to campus.
• While not required, it is expected that all members of the GVSU community will complete the self-assessment daily to support efforts to protect the health of the community. It is strongly suggested that the self-assessment be completed before noon.

The daily self-assessment is simple and quick to complete. The self-assessment is the primary means for us to collect daily information – including weekends – about how the virus is affecting the GVSU community, minimize its spread, promote public health and make sound decisions.

Learn how to create an easy-to-use bookmark for the self-assessment on your smartphone.

Self-Assessment

Lakers Together Handbook

Grand Valley has developed a handbook, “Lakers Together Protecting Each Other.” This handbook contains all the decisions we have made to date, and we will update the information as decisions are made and requirements change.

Lakers Together Handbook

Students need your help more now than ever. Please consider a gift to the Student Support Fund.