Important reminders for cold and flu health and safety on campus
TMU reminds community members to stay home when sick, practise good hygiene and stay up-to-date with vaccinations as cold and flu season arrives, while encouraging flexibility for those impacted by illness. Photo: Unsplash
With the colder weather underway, we would like to remind our community of the importance of staying vigilant in our health and safety measures, and that each of us has a role to play in keeping ourselves and our fellow community members safe from cold, flu and other illnesses.
4 key health and safety tips for cold and flu prevention
Stay home if you are unwell
It is always important that all community members continue to self-monitor for symptoms and not come to campus if they feel unwell.
Practise good hand and respiratory hygiene
Remember that hand and respiratory hygiene is key to our overall health and wellbeing:
Wash your hands regularly with soap and water for at least 30 seconds — especially before handling food, after touching your face or shaking someone’s hand.
Cover your mouth with a tissue when sneezing and coughing. Throw the tissue away and then wash your hands immediately.
If you do not have a tissue, cough into your upper sleeve or elbow.
Consider wearing a mask if you have been ill
The university continues to be a mask-friendly environment. If you have been ill, we encourage you to consider wearing a mask for a brief period upon return to in-person activities.
While supplies last, TMU continues to offer N95 masks to community members. For information on how to pick up a mask, contact ehs@torontomu.ca.
Stay up-to-date with vaccinations
The university encourages all community members to be vaccinated as recommended by public health and medical practitioners, including the flu vaccine.
Flexibility with students
As always, we ask faculty and contract lecturers to show flexibility with students who are impacted by illness wherever possible.
Faculty and contract lecturer absenteeism due to illness
If faculty or contract lecturers are experiencing mild symptoms of illness but are well enough, willing and able to teach their course(s), they should discuss this with their Chair/Director and consider temporarily delivering the course remotely/virtually until their conditions improve and they can return to on-campus teaching. The Chair/Director should make the Dean aware of the need to change the mode of delivery.
If a faculty member or contract lecturer cannot attend class due to illness, they should follow normal, pre-pandemic sick leave processes on missing classes, which includes notifying their Chair/Director and students, and may include cancelling and rescheduling the class.
Staff absenteeism due to illness
If an employee is experiencing symptoms, regular sick leave provisions should apply. We ask leaders to be flexible with employees as absences may increase through the winter months.
For more information
We continue to be appreciative of the support of our community in working together to limit the spread of illness on campus.