To better understand the psychological factors underlying this commitment to individual prevention measures, a team of psychology researchers led by Michael Cunningham at the University of Louisville surveyed several groups of people about their attitudes and responses. The studies, published in in April, revealed associations between individuals’ response to prevention measures and their belief in the credibility of science, control and coping mechanisms and political orientation.

Cunningham and colleagues at UofL, York College in Pennsylvania and FifthTheory, a digital assessment and survey solutions company in Chicago, conducted a series of three online surveys to delve deeper into the psychological determinants of COVID-19 prevention behaviors.

The first study of the series surveyed students, faculty and staff at two higher education institutions in the U.S. The researchers compared respondents’ assessments on the a measure of acceptance of responsibility and adherence to prevention measures, with additional questions to determine respondents’ belief in the credibility of science, political orientation and beliefs about the virus and the degree to which preventing an infection was within an individual’s control.

It showed that those who attributed COVID-19 safety to personal effort rather than inherent ability or outside forces, who had a progressive political orientation and who believed in the credibility of science were more likely to embrace COVID-19 prevention actions such as wearing masks, social distancing and vaccination.

The study began before the COVID-19 vaccine was available, but once the Pfizer vaccine received Emergency Use Authorization from the Food and Drug Administration in December 2020, the team added questions to the survey about willingness to take the vaccine. This gave them insight into attitudes both before and after respondents were confident a vaccine would be a reality.

“The attitudes about the pandemic may differ depending on what you think the solutions are going to be, so issues of sensitization and denial and repression may come in to play slightly differently when you think there is a solution versus when you don’t,” Cunningham said. “We were thinking a vaccine would come but we didn’t all know when it was going to hit, so when it did in December of 2020, that changed the equation quite a bit.”

After the vaccine received authorization, responses to the survey shifted slightly, showing that individuals had become less committed to personal carefulness and health-consciousness to avoid the illness and less likely to believe that becoming ill from the virus was due to fate or luck.

The second study in the series addressed work-related attitudes related to the pandemic. The researchers surveyed adults across the U.S. and found that an intention to be vaccinated corresponded to a willingness to work, less emotional distress and greater focus on customer experience.

The third study documented the personal attributes and motives of individuals who volunteered to help administer vaccines in Kentucky. Nearly 60% of those individuals were motivated by a desire to help others, whereas almost 40% said they volunteered so they could receive the vaccine themselves. Compared to the general population, the survey found the volunteers more likely to be older, to have higher levels of education, to believe in the credibility of science, vote liberal and attribute COVID-19 protection to personal effort.

The results of these studies led the researchers to propose a COVID-19 mindset hierarchy model that ranks individuals in terms of their response to pandemic. The model goes from the most basic level 1, acceptance vs. denial of COVID-19, to the most mature level 5, in which individuals become involved in community-based eradication efforts. The knowledge base incorporated in the model is useful in shaping health safety messaging going forward, not only with COVID, but with monkeypox and other plagues that have not yet emerged.

Cunningham and his team are planning additional research to further understand the psychological impact of the pandemic and related losses, to validate the COVID-19 mindset hierarchy and to examine the relation of COVID behaviors to more general health care related topics, such as support for a single-payer system.

Starting March 14, 2022, masking will only be required in classrooms and clinical areas. In all other areas, masks will be optional.

Here are additional things to note about the mask requirement modification:

• Masks are still required when riding campus shuttles due to TARC’s continued mask requirement.
• Units that operate patient care activities may determine how to make their policies consistent with health agency recommendations.
• The university still encourages individuals with health concerns to consider wearing masks while indoors. 
• The university will continue to monitor CDC guidance and may have to make more changes to masking or take other measures if circumstances change. 

Beginning April 1, 2022, the university will also no longer require testing of unvaccinated individuals as asymptomatic testing has now shown to have little to no effect on the spread of COVID-19. If you feel ill, stay home and .

As we relax some of these requirements that have been in place since the start of the pandemic, please keep in mind that this may be a difficult transition for some. Please be thoughtful and considerate with each other as we make this transition.

Between Aug. 25 and Sept. 1, investigators from the tested nearly 3,000 Jefferson County residents for the to detect the presence of the virus in participants’ nasal swabs by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method and for the presence of antibodies against the virus in their blood.

The results showed that approximately 1.1% of all the participants tested positive for active coronavirus infections. Among vaccinated participants only 0.7% had an active infection, while nearly 5% of unvaccinated participants were actively infected. This number would roughly correspond to 7,260 active infections in the county, a nearly tenfold increase in infection rates over the rates measured in April, despite a sharp increase in vaccinated residents, as shown in Figure 1.

As in previous testing rounds, the team also tested for antibodies in participants. They found that independent of their vaccination status, in both the sampled and volunteer groups, nearly 16% of the participants had natural infection antibodies against the virus suggesting that they must have been infected by the virus in the recent past. These data indicate that in the last few months, at least 100,000 adults in Jefferson County have had COVID-19.

“These results highlight the steep rise in coronavirus infections in our community and provide a startling snapshot of the current state of the pandemic,” said Aruni Bhatnagar, director of the Envirome Institute. “Our estimates suggest that the number of infected individuals may be twice as high as that indicated in public records.

“Our work shows the vaccine is working as intended. Our population was almost 90% vaccinated, much higher than the 64% of fully vaccinated county residents. In the entire cohort, vaccinated people were over 12 times less likely to be infected compared with unvaccinated people. Though in our volunteer group, 65% of the active infections were in fully vaccinated individuals who had received the vaccine earlier this year. Most reported no or mild allergy-like symptoms and did not recognize that it may be a COVID infection thus did not think they needed to get tested.”

The study also provided estimates of where in Jefferson County the infections are most prevalent. To identify infection rates in different areas, the researchers classified the participants into neighborhood zones, as shown in Figure 2.

The highest rate of active infection was found in Zone 3A, or far southwestern Jefferson County. The highest rate of those recently having had an infection was found in Zone 3B, central southern Jefferson County, as shown in Figure 3.

Participants from Zone 3B also reported lower rates of vaccination, although vaccination rates were lowest in Zone 1B in western Jefferson County, as shown in Figure 4.

“Even though nearly 90% of the participants in the entire study population were vaccinated, we had areas that reported as low as 60% vaccination, and the persistence of infection in some geographical areas seems to be related to lower rates of reported vaccination,” said Rachel Keith, associate professor of environmental medicine at UofL who conducted the study. “Our results show that much work remains to be done and that knowing that rates of infection are high in their community may be an added incentive for some individuals to get vaccinated.

“Additionally, knowing that fully vaccinated individuals may still get an active infection allows those individuals to take additional precautions such as masking or testing which helps keep the community safe, including any young or immunocompromised friends and families who may need extra protection.”

“The vaccine is very effective. Nearly 96% of vaccinated individuals had detectable levels of antibodies against the virus in their blood. However, in a small number of people (less than 0.6%) the levels of antibodies were undetectable in our assay, even though these individuals were fully vaccinated,” Keith said. “The lack of a measurable response in some individuals even after vaccination may be due to their health and immune status. We are analyzing our results to find out more about why some rare individuals do not develop high antibody levels in response to vaccination.”

Using the data from more than 7,000 individuals tested over the past year, the team is trying to identify personal and environmental characteristics that increase the risk for coronavirus infection and how vaccination reduces this risk.

For this round of testing, the team collected samples at 13 locations across Jefferson County. Active coronavirus infections were analyzed by Bluewater Labs and antibodies against the virus were assayed at at the .

To randomly sample people from all parts of the city and to include proportional number of individuals of different age and race/ethnicity, researchers at UofL partnered with Westat to mail approximately 30,000 letters asking people to participate in the study. Nearly 1,000 people who responded to this invitation were tested and an additional 1,886 booked their own appointments after hearing about the study in the news or on social media.

This study was supported in part by a contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Social distancing.

“You’re muted.” 

Protests. Unrest. 

We asked some UofL students, faculty and staff take an honest look back on the past year, the changes and struggles they endured, and the resilience they uncovered in the face of adversity. Here’s what they had to say: 

For starters, we now know more about how to control this relentless virus and we have vaccinations available, which has started to create a semblance of normalcy. Still, there remains plenty we don’t know; for example, what changes will stick around in our “new normal.”

For UofL President Neeli Bendapudi, that will be defined in part by a reflection on the nature of work.

“One of my mentors once told me work is what you do, not where you go. I think that applies here – it’s important that we have some reflection on what needs to be done and where,” she said. “It is validating that our faculty, staff and students want an in-person experience again, but how we do it will be interesting.”

At this point, she’ll take “interesting.” It’s certainly progress from where we were in March 2020 – when dozens of UofL administrators met frequently, sometimes daily, to develop a plan around a moving and blurry target. Bendapudi recalls several discussions from those early days, including whether or not to go completely online.

On March 11, 2020, she sent a campus-wide email announcing the extension of spring break and that classes were to be delivered virtually through April 5.

“I saw enough from our researchers to take things completely online and others had not made the call yet. I do think that’s when others started to look at it more critically,” she said.

Indeed, they all followed suit. And as the virus proliferated, the online model continued through the duration of the spring semester and even spring commencement was delivered virtually in an effort to keep our community safe.

That’s not to say it was an easy decision, however. There was criticism from plenty about whether it was necessary.

While classes went virtual, UofL intentionally left its residence halls and dining options open for students who simply had nowhere else to go. There was criticism from plenty for that decision as well.

How often we would administer tests was criticized, budgeting decisions were criticized, the pace of decision making about the fall semester was criticized – everything. Bendapudi said that’s simply the nature of being in charge of a major metropolitan institution.

Throughout those dark and challenging early months, she tried to maintain a steely resolve, but the criticisms from people claiming there were financial decisions at play were often too loud for her to ignore.

“It wasn’t as though you made one decision and lived with it one way or another,” she said. “Those early days were a series of decisions and what is the right call to make changed constantly. It is an interesting case study. What was also interesting to me is how to balance good science with what gives people comfort.”

Fortunately, UofL has the benefit of being a Carnegie-designated Research I institution and therefore having a baseline of that “good science.” The institution also has the benefit of being a member of the ACC and leveraging researchers across the conference, which Bendapudi said was “hugely helpful.”

She also acknowledges the fortuitous timing of UofL Health system’s November 2019 acquisition of .

“No one knew how much that system would be desperately needed. Where would all of those [COVID-19] patients have gone? There was no capability to handle that,” she said. “I am proud and grateful we were the ones leading on testing for our area hospitals. I am proud of our entire health care system.”

She’s also proud of our all-hands-on-deck efforts put toward fighting the pandemic – from engineering to nursing to public health. , UofL has produced 3D printed face shields, filled gaps in test kits, launched decontamination programs, led a community-wide tracing study and so much more. 

“All of this shows how we truly are a community-engaged, innovative university,” Bendapudi said.

That’s not to say having so many experts on hand wasn’t without its challenges. Bendapudi likes to lead with a “big table” approach, pulling in as many perspectives as is manageable. So many voices can complicate things, however, particularly in a crisis environment.

This also made her realize there is an even bigger opportunity for leadership development, specifically coaching people who are frontline managers to feel comfortable making tough calls.

In fact, the past year has made Bendapudi re-think her priorities in general, focusing more deeply on family, friends and health, and making sure the UofL community has sufficient resources in place to do the same. These priorities came to light not just because of the pandemic, but also because of the incendiary political landscape and global protests against racial injustice, including an intense local focus on the death of UofL Health employee Breonna Taylor.

“The ‘what could we do, what should we do’ questions were constant when considering the mental stress of being a college student during these times. Our students should be exploring and being around other people, but they couldn’t,” Bendapudi said. “This generation was dealing with incredible pressures before all of this happened and we are going to have to really focus on their mental health needs because of what they’ve been through.”

Those needs will be one of her priorities as we gear up for a return to campus for the Fall 2021 semester. That return is something Bendapudi is looking forward to. She’s also optimistic that the toughest lessons learned throughout this past year have made us a more resilient and unified community.

“I am excited about campus coming to life again and I am optimistic we are all more aware that our health depends on each other, that we have a shared fate, and that we should and do care more about each other,” she said. “I hope that awareness, that empathy, sticks around. That is how we best function as a Community of Care.”

UofL detected the variant, a Brazilian strain known as P.1, early in April in a wastewater sample from western Jefferson County. Once researchers received the results, they alerted the Louisville Metro Department of Health and Wellness as well as the state, which confirmed a positive case in the same zip codes with different testing methods a week later.

“The ability to detect viruses early, such as in this case, gives officials more time to take precautions and contain their spread,” said Aruni Bhatnagar, professor of medicine and director of , which leads the wastewater research. “With pandemics, every second counts. In as little as one week, the virus can spread significantly, and then it becomes much harder to contain. This work gives us more time and an opportunity for targeted testing.”

UofL researchers began testing wastewater last year as part of the , a groundbreaking partnership to track COVID-19 in Louisville Metro.

The Louisville/Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District has sent weekly samples from 12 sites representing multiple neighborhoods and five wastewater treatment facilities that aggregate the entire county.

Those samples are taken to the , where pharmacology and toxicology assistant professor Josh Fuqua and his team process the samples and isolate viral RNA, and to the UofL Genomics and Bioinformatics Core facilities, where computer science and engineering professor Eric Rouchka analyzes the virus sequences to detect variants.

UofL recently announced the expansion of this work, backed by an . That expansion goes one step further than previous work — from identifying whether disease exists in a neighborhood to estimating how prevalent it is there.

Bhatnagar said understanding that connection could “revolutionize the way we track and contain pandemics, and not just COVID-19.”

Rather than rely solely on direct testing, such as with nasal swabs, wastewater testing can give health departments another tool to gauge the severity of community infection and to identify areas where the infection is prevalent. The tool also is faster, more efficient and less invasive.

“This is cutting-edge work – and the fact that it’s being done right here in Louisville – right here at UofL – places us at the forefront of public health innovation,” said Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer. “It shows we’re doing the work to keep our city and cities around the world safe.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Co-Immunity Project has conducted ongoing testing and surveys to better understand the spread of the coronavirus and COVID-19. In the past year, UofL researchers have tested more than 12,000 people for COVID-19 infection and antibodies, beginning with frontline health care workers. They also have worked to gauge how local citizens feel about COVID-19 vaccines, with 91% of Jefferson County residents in a recent poll saying they would like to be vaccinated.

“This is one more example of how UofL has led the charge in finding new and innovative ways to detect, contain and fight COVID-19,” said Kevin Gardner, UofL’s executive vice president for research and innovation. “Developing these new, more efficient tools for tracking pandemics, such as wastewater monitoring, is a big step in advancing health for our community and beyond.”

The Co-Immunity Project needs 2,000 residents to undergo random testing for COVID-19 infection and antibodies the week of May 17-23 as part of this ongoing research. To learn more, , call 833-313-0502 or email covidsupport@louisville.edu.

, an organizational development researcher, and associate professor, calls his four-step plan the “RISE Reintegration Model,” a strategic planning framework he says leaders in a range of industries can use to begin thinking through the questions and plans for bringing teams back into the physical workplace.

“Employee reintegration is coming as it becomes safer to do so,” Shuck said. “But from an organizational standpoint, that’s easier said than done. That’s why it’s important for companies to think through these factors and develop a proactive, intentional plan.” 

Shuck’s RISE model centers on four “Rs,” the first being “Reset.” This step, he said, should begin two to three months ahead of bringing employees back, and asks companies to consider how their offices will be different than they were before pandemic shutdown. For example, there may be COVID-19 safety protocols, increased use of technology and employees who need time to adjust back from working out of their living rooms.

“Companies went through one major reset in 2020, when many employees began working remotely, and this is another major reset,” Shuck said. “It’s not going to go right back to business as usual. Things will likely look different than they did before. Companies need to prepare – and help their employees prepare – for that.”

The second R, “Restart,” happens in the first one to two months after companies restart in-person work. In this phase, Shuck said, companies should allow employees time to reacclimate to the old-but-new environment and put a heavy focus on short-term goals, which can build a sense of momentum, value and direction.

The third R, “Recalibrate,” should begin two to four months after companies reopen. In this phase, Shuck said, companies should focus on adjusting business strategy for new information, emerging market norms and a dynamic operating landscape dramatically changed by the global pandemic.

“As we look into the emerging economies of work, there is no country, no industry, no company, no team and no individual that the COVID-19 crisis did not touch in some way,” he said. “In some market spaces, entire industries changed. Some industries no longer exist. In other spaces, new industries and ideas have emerged.”

The last R, “Reinvent,” is all about taking lessons learned during the pandemic and integrating them into the company’s operations. For example, seeing that employees can work from home effectively may lead to giving them more flexibility in office hours. This phase, Shuck said, should happen four to eight months after companies bring employees back and then every six months for the next three years.

“With adapting to change, everything comes down to having a plan,” Shuck said. “By thinking things through and following a clear roadmap, companies give themselves the best chance of coming back better and stronger.”

UofL researchers already are testing wastewater to determine whether coronavirus infection exists in different neighborhoods around Jefferson County. This new work goes one step further, with the goal of estimating how many people within those neighborhoods are infected. If virus levels are high in the wastewater, it may be a signal of widespread infection in the community.

“This could revolutionize the way we track and contain pandemics, and not just COVID-19,” said Aruni Bhatnagar, professor of medicine. “It gives us an invaluable tool that could offer a clearer view of where and how the virus spreads.”

Researchers at UofL’s , where Bhatnagar is director, began testing wastewater last year as part of the Co-Immunity Project, a groundbreaking partnership with the to track COVID-19 in Metro Louisville.

As part of that effort, the from 12 sites representing multiple neighborhoods and five water quality treatment centers that aggregate the entire county to the UofL Center for Predictive Medicine for virus analysis.

In this new work, MSD and other community partners will continue collecting wastewater samples over the next six months. After analysis, UofL will also send the results to the CDC’s National Wastewater Surveillance System, which will help inform efforts across the U.S.

As with previous rounds of COVID-19 testing conducted through the Co-Immunity Project, researchers will recruit participants by sending letters to selected households across Jefferson County. They hope to continue to enroll a few thousand people every month and will compare their COVID-19 infection and antibody results with wastewater samples from the same area, with the goal of finding how they correlate.

“The aim of the project is to figure out whether we can estimate how many people in a given area are infected by simply testing the community wastewater,” said Ted Smith, associate professor of medicine and a lead on the wastewater epidemiology project. “Additionally, this is a passive and comparatively low-cost way to monitor community infection and has the additional benefit of being inclusive of all communities in our city and is a promising step to ensuring public health equity.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Co-Immunity Project has conducted ongoing testing and surveys to better understand the spread of the coronavirus and COVID-19. In the past year, UofL researchers have tested more than 12,000 people for COVID-19 infection and antibodies, beginning with frontline health care workers. They also have worked to gauge how local citizens feel about COVID-19 vaccines, with in a recent poll saying they would like to be vaccinated.

“This is critically important work in our fight against COVID-19,” said Kevin Gardner, UofL’s executive vice president for research and innovation. “Our hope is that by working with the CDC, we can develop these new, more efficient tools for tracking pandemics and take a big step in advancing health for all of our community.”

Last year, U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), then-Senate majority leader, negotiated and championed five historic and completely bipartisan COVID-19 rescue packages. In addition to supporting workers and propping up the economy, these relief bills also allocated for COVID-19 testing. McConnell personally called then-U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar to request that the CDC direct a portion of that funding to UofL’s Co-Immunity Project.

“Our country has responded to this terrible pandemic with innovation and discovery and Kentucky continues to play a major role in beating this virus. I’d like to congratulate Dr. Bhatnagar and UofL’s entire Co-Immunity Project on their groundbreaking study,” McConnell said in a statement. “After hearing about their work, I took this project to the highest levels of the federal government to help accelerate their research with additional federal funding. As UPS and other Louisville employers are sending safe and effective vaccinations around the country, I’m proud top researchers right here at UofL are pushing the boundaries of knowledge in detection and prevention.”

In February, the researchers asked adults living in Jefferson County their perceptions about the coronavirus vaccine in order to identify potential barriers to vaccine uptake and to better understand vaccine hesitancy. Letters were mailed to 35,999 households across all geographic sectors of the county inviting the recipients to take part in the survey as well as to make an appointment for free testing for COVID-19, also part of the Co-Immunity Project.

“We wanted to better understand which residents had access to the vaccine as well as their attitudes toward the vaccine,” said Aruni Bhatnagar, Ph.D., director of the . “This information would help us improve equity in vaccine availability as well as help us understand the reasons behind vaccine hesitancy in our community. So, we incorporated the survey opportunity into our outreach for random community testing for the virus.”

The survey included questions about whether the person had been vaccinated, where they received most of their information about the vaccine and where they would prefer to be vaccinated. They also had an option to indicate they would not get vaccinated. They also were asked what would make them more likely to be vaccinated and what influenced those who were hesitant to vaccination.

Participants completed the questionnaire on a website that also offered them the opportunity to schedule an appointment for COVID-19 infection and antibody testing. Most of the 1,296 survey participants were age 60 or over (44%), female (61%) and white (84%) and 90.2% reported being unvaccinated.

An overwhelming majority of participants (91%) indicated they would choose to be vaccinated, with slightly lower rates among minority participants. Vaccine-hesitant participants suggested that more evidence of safety and effectiveness or their health provider’s recommendation would increase their likelihood of getting vaccinated. Although vaccines are provided for free, concerns about cost were seen in more than half the participants.

While most vaccine-hesitant participants expressed concern about side effects and safety, followed by not “tested on enough people who are like me,” minority participants expressed these concerns at higher rates and many vaccine participants from all races had concerns about the timeline of vaccine development. Other concerns were related to the efficacy of the vaccines, vaccines in general and government mistrust.

About 3% of white and 8% of minority participants indicated they would never choose vaccination. Minority participants reported they were more likely to choose vaccination with celebrity endorsement, offerings by faith organizations and vaccination requirements. White participants were more likely to choose vaccination if their family and friends or elected officials were vaccinated and with evidence of efficacy.

Most participants would prefer to be vaccinated by their health care provider, followed by a mobile or walk-in clinic, a pharmacy or a hospital. Other sites, such as community organizations, community recreation centers, workplaces or schools were of interest to one-fourth or less of participants. Minority participants were less interested in vaccination at work, pharmacies, libraries and mobile or walk-up clinics and more interested in being vaccinated at food distribution centers or by their health care provider.

Compared with white participants, minority participants were less likely to report knowing how to find out their vaccine eligibility or sign up for a vaccination.

While they acknowledge limitations to the study due to the fact that it was delivered along with the testing invitation and that it required a computer and internet access to complete, the researchers believe analysis of the results will be helpful in increasing access and acceptance of vaccines among different populations.

“Obtaining information on how to get a vaccine continues to be burdensome and solutions to this problem will help with more equitable vaccine distribution,” said Rachel Keith, Ph.D., assistant professor in the UofL Department of Medicine and a lead investigator in the Co-Immunity Project.

Five days later, March 11, the World Health Organization classified the virus as a global pandemic. That same day, UofL President Neeli Bendapudi sent a campus-wide email introducing a dedicated website for COVID-19 updates and announcing immediate changes to the spring semester, including the extension of spring break and the suspension of international and non-essential domestic business travel.

Further, classes were to be delivered remotely starting March 18 through April 5. As we know now, that remote class model continued through the duration of the spring semester and even spring commencement was delivered virtually. Though our campus remained open and functioning, much of our operating model was turned on its head.  

When the first coronavirus patient was admitted to UofL Health on March 17, the global headlines that had peppered newspapers since the beginning of the year became deeply personal. 

“Each day seems to bring with it new issues and new complications,” President Bendapudi wrote to the campus community. “And yet each day also brings hope and confidence and resilience because it is clear we are working together, and working with one singular purpose: to keep everyone healthy and informed as we move forward.”

During those early and dark days, the CDC issued a laundry list of precautions to stay safe against this new and complex threat. Chief among those guidelines was maintaining a social distance of at least 6 feet from another human being, no doubt a challenge on a busy college campus like ours.

As such, the spring 2020 semester became like no other in the 200-plus-year history of the University of Louisville. Remote instruction was extended to the end of the semester, including finals, students were moved out of campus residence halls. Recreation facilities were closed, faculty and staff shifted to a work-from-home model and commencement was postponed. There was confusion and sadness, anxiety and fear.

President Bendapudi urged the UofL community to, “Anchor yourself in what matters most to you. Reach out to someone for help … Reach out to see if someone else needs help. Let us be patient with one another. Together we will persevere through this tumultuous time and come out the other side a stronger, more unified university community.”

Anxiety from the unknown

Staff Senate Chair John Smith was tasked with making sure the needs of UofL’s staff employees were taken care of and that they were as informed as they could be. Those early days were the toughest for him, when things were shutting down “like dominos” and discussions were taking place about budget cuts and staffing.   

“When we saw other colleges and universities shutting down for the rest of the semester, we knew right away there was going to be a tremendous financial hit to the university and we were going to have to navigate that in some manner,” he said. “Knowing how much of our budget is dedicated to personnel costs, I knew we were going to be looking at furloughs and pay reductions. I hated every second of those discussions.”

Those discussions lasted for weeks. Solutions were largely elusive.

“There was so much unknown. How is the state system going to function? What happens to people who receive a furlough? It was a very real roller coaster,” Smith said.

The furlough and pay-reduction conversation was just one challenge, however. Employees also had to navigate NTI, VPN, internet connections, child care, their own health and the health of their families. The one topic employees revisited most with Smith was how much anxiety they were experiencing – anxiety about getting the virus from pumping gas, or about how long it was going to be until they could see their friends and family, or about how long their child would be out of school.

“Usually you can see the other side of something, but this was new for the entire world,” he said. “The not knowing was the hardest part. It just seemed so overwhelming for so many people at the same time.”

For senior Sabrina Collins, UofL’s SGA president, the toughest decision early on was whether or not we should bring students back to campus for the fall 2020 semester without knowing what the state of the pandemic would be.

“Last spring, most people thought COVID would be long gone by the fall,” she said. “As we approached the start of the fall semester, it became clear that would not be the case.”

Like employees, students were also hit hard in a number of ways. Collins said many were impacted financially, unable to work and struggling to navigate the unemployment process. Many were also not included in the 2020 stimulus package.

“In addition, students today are facing unprecedented mental health challenges, which have only been exacerbated by the pandemic,” she said.

Points of pride

UofL worked to address some of those challenges, adding counseling sessions, hosting “coping with COVID” webinars and virtual group workshops and ensuring critical social networks didn’t dissipate. A number of traditional campus events continued in a virtual format, for example.

As the pandemic raged on through those early days and into the summer, we started to learn a little more about how to navigate this relentless virus. At UofL, we took an all-hands-on-deck approach to research, care, prevention and community.

For example, from the onset, our nationally networked lab  to safely study coronavirus, our engineering students  shields for healthcare professionals, our  started a company to meet demand for reusable face masks, 3D printed swabs developed at UofL  and we launched a  to alleviate a mask shortage for health care workers.

In April,  believed to block the coronavirus from infecting human cells. In July, UofL began a clinical trial on a  COVID-19 patients meant to lessen some of the most severe respiratory effects. In early December, UofL received funding from the  to develop and test a nasal spray to prevent COVID-19.

This is nowhere near a complete list of UofL’s work against the COVID-19 pandemic, yet all of this work that should incite plenty of pride.

For Smith, however, his pride comes from a place that’s a little more personal. He’s most proud of the way UofL staff employees “dug in” during the crisis. A few volunteered to take furloughs to protect others, for example.

He is proud of President Bendapudi and the board of trustees for raising a “significant” amount of money for our employee SHARE program, and Physical Plant for keeping campus sanitized, Public Safety for keeping campus safe, Housing and Dining for keeping students sheltered and fed, the fitness centers, our academic advisors, our researchers, our enrollment management staff, our Delphi Center that moved classes online quickly, and so forth.

“These are examples that really show what we are all about,” he said. “The concern for each other was tremendously apparent and encouraging. Hope is a powerful thing. Staff did a great job giving hope to each other at a time when so many things were unknown.”

As this past year has poignantly proved, our collective challenges were created by more than the global pandemic. The global protests for racial justice in the wake of the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd also hit home, particularly for many of our students. It was those students’ response that made Collins most proud.

“Our students really showed up for one another and for the Louisville community,” she said. “It is inspiring to see UofL students demanding change and working to peel away layers of institutional racism at our university in our city.”

Post-pandemic changes

Without question, the pandemic has changed so much more than just pedagogical models and some of those changes are predicted to stick around.

Smith said remote work – at least a hybrid model – might linger for some employees and he would advocate for such a model.

“The ability to work remotely or in a hybrid situation may help us retain some valuable people. Aside from that, the ability to work remotely can really make a positive difference in someone’s quality of life,” he said. “Obviously there are some jobs that can’t be accomplished remotely, but I hope we take this opportunity to embrace the opportunity for those that can.”

He also hopes we continue some virtual meeting components to allow more opportunities for people to engage if they have restrictive schedules or travel.

Collins said some students have done well in an academic environment where there are more options for course modality, while acknowledging others have struggled in an online environment. The future should therefore reflect a range of needs, she said.

“I am glad to know our decision to change the online course pricing to match the in-person rate will persist into future years,” she said. “This change allows students to have more flexibility regarding the courses they are taking. I hope that as UofL moves forward, we continue to collect student feedback on hybrid courses so we can provide course options that best meet the needs of our students.”

Of course, in light of a global pandemic, UofL Health is also experiencing tremendous changes. UofL’s chief medical officer the pandemic will change the delivery of health care, for example, among other things.

“This is going to be something that we are going to take lessons learned, both good and bad, and begin to adapt it to all areas of our lives,” he said. “And I don’t think it’ll ever quite be the same after COVID … Delivery of health care is going to be different. The science behind vaccinations and the use of vaccines is going to be very different. How we disseminate information is going to be very different. We are probably just on the cusp of beginning to understand the impact of this.”

That said, one year later, we also seem to be on the cusp of a post-COVID world, with plenty of reasons for hope and optimism. We were the first hospital in Kentucky and one of the first in the country to start administering the , for example. We’re planning an in May at Cardinal Stadium after enduring two virtual commencements in a row. And, we’re resuming an  in the fall. We’ll do all of this fully aware of how this crisis changed our community – individually and collectively.

“There was a point in time where it was like the entire university said, ‘OK, we have got to start moving forward again,’ I have seen it with our students. I have seen it with our staff. I have seen it with our faculty. I have seen it with our administration,” John Smith said. “Witnessing that synergy has been very powerful and encouraging. Seeing it happen across the board has been inspiring.”