DIGGING DEEP – COVID-19 RESILIENCE AND TRANSFORMATION
model pioneered in 2016 for the UWI Zika Task Force. The COVID-19 Task Force was chaired by Professor Clive Landis, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Undergraduate Studies and former Director of the George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre. The Task Force comprised experts in areas such as virology, epidemiology, laboratory diagnostics, critical care, respiratory medicine, pulmonology, health leadership, emergency medicine, veterinary medicine, mental health, public health, clinical psychology and counselling, tourism, trade, international relations, public education, youth advocacy, ethics, and communication, among other areas. The prevailing themes upon which the Task Force first focused were public health policy; clinical care; ethics; psycho-social care; gender; economic simulation; tourism recovery; students; and communications. One of their earliest tasks was to help create the UWI COVID-19 Management Plan (UWI-READY), which was approved on March 9, just days before a case was confirmed in a UWI campus country. Closure of campuses In accordance with government mandates, in-person classes were suspended in March 2020. The UWI convened special executive management meetings
In January 2019, as the World Health Organisation declared the novel coronavirus a public health emergency, The UWI activated its COVID-19 response plan. Cognisant of its dual responsibilities to its internal communities as well as to its stakeholders in the wider Caribbean region, The UWI unleashed a two-fold response. INTERNAL RESPONSE Staff and students at the UWICIIT Its primary matter of concern was the well-being of its administrative staff and 28 students present in China, who were enrolled in a programme at the UWI-China Institute of Information Technology (UWICIIT). As The UWI remained in regular contact with them, offering support, practical assistance and counselling, while reaching out to their families at home in the Caribbean, this association with our Chinese partners also allowed the university the advantage of a swifter response as compared to many of our counterparts in Europe to the Caribbean reality and risks, once a global pandemic became evident. The UWI COVID Task Force In February 2020, the University established The COVID-19 Task Force comprising in-house subject- matter experts. It was based upon the collaborative
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