COVID-19 Survey Results

The survey commenced on August 17 and ended September 17, 2021. The survey was sent to the SAC group, Civil Service List Serv and the PAcademy listserv. 1,014 people participated in the survey. 57% civil service employees, 32% academic professionals, 5% faculty and 3% other. We did send the survey to student organizations, but very little students participated 2%.

At the time of the survey September 2021, 96% of the participants are vaccinated. Though 4% indicated they were not, of the 4% or 40 people, 35 people intended to take the COVID19 vaccine soon 88%.  This would be less than 1% or .004% that would not be vaccinated.

From the group of participants, 28% had members in their household that are not able to receive the vaccine due to age, medical or religious reasons.

Much of the 94% of the participants felt that they knew the guidelines regarding a safe return to work at UIC.

Everyone commented that they wanted communication about COVID19. Communication of COVID19 Guidelines had the following preference by order of demand: Mass Email, Website Reference Page, Town Hall, Youtube Video.  40 people commented in other.

58% either agreed or strongly agreed that appropriate safety protocols are already in place on campus, while 19% strongly disagreed or disagreed. 119 commented in other.

824 comments were made about how well the campus was doing about campus guidelines regarding COVID19. 17% Commented about Masks and 14% commented about all the guidelines

494 had additional comments and questions. 21% or 104 people commented about working from home and 12% or 60 people felt unsafe.

“I would prefer to stay home and work for my own safety and that of my family.” Is the feeling in not one but most UIC employees that commented about working from home. Employees feel that it has been well established, in the last year or so, that most work at UIC can be done remotely, without having to be present on campus and still maintain the same efficiency. Several employees feel that the university made a “decision in haste” to be back on campus and could have “easily waited for another semester” to do so. Employees want a little more flexibility on remote working. An employee mentioned that they have a parent who is 81 years old that could get the vaccine however the other parent, 83, could not get the vaccine due to health issues, which makes the employee feel uncomfortable to go back to campus. There are employees who are trained to work remotely.  Their work does not demand them to interact with many people outside of emails and work can be easily done from home.  However, they do not have a choice, but to be back on campus and they ‘do not see a purpose’ behind this. There is absolutely no reason for non-essential activities to take place on campus they feel. Classes which can be taken remotely should continue to be that way “until the booster shots are made available.”

In the same sense, there are a few employees who said working from home has made their work tough. They feel that the amount of work they must do in the same amount of time has increased significantly. It takes days to get email responses from people as everyone makes an excuse of working from home which has delayed everything. Some employees feel that vaccinated individuals should be allowed on campus as working from home has had a negative impact on their productivity.  Some employees working from home have been away from campus for too long.  These employees want to be back as soon they can, but in a safe manner. Employees have suggested to implement a hybrid model as that will solve the purpose for both – those who want to be on campus and those who want to work from home. More work should be done from home until a significant proportion of the UIC community is fully vaccinated.

Overall, there is a mixed opinion on whether people should work from home or not. The majority of the people think that they should be able to continue to work from home especially when they successfully did it for the past 1.5 years, at least until the spread of the delta variant is contained. A relatively small proportion of employees do feel that the hybrid model can be implemented to gradually bring back normalcy but emphasize the importance of following the COVID-19 guidelines on campus.

Individuals are not confident to be back on campus irrespective of their vaccination status. They feel that the mandates keep changing very frequently and that leads to confusion. One thing which is common in most responses is that everyone feels masks should be required both indoors and outdoors, at least for a while. They do not appreciate the idea of having as many people on campus as we do currently. Working parents are unsure about returning to campus. They feel that their ability to go to work will depend on if their child can be in school without self-quarantining. Individuals were also shocked to see the university getting back on campus at the same time when the delta variant is spreading in the country and the vaccines are not showing as much efficacy against the variant. Considering the huge international population at UIC, they want the booster shot to be available before everything gets back to be in person. Individuals who are on campus currently feel pressured to meet with students in their office. They state that they “do not have a choice.” These employees feel that they  take precautions but cannot control how others on campus act with regard to preventing the spread of COVID-19.

An employee stated that UI Health did not act promptly and learn from the mistakes that other countries like Italy and Spain, committed which resulted in large employee casualties.  This makes these employees feel even more unsafe keeping in mind the rise in the spread of the delta variant in the US. These employees also feel the mutation rate of the virus is very high which could mean another variant affecting the country and the UIC community.

Vaccinated employees are worried about unvaccinated staff and students on campus. They feel they do not have a choice but to come to campus but that restricts them from visiting their elderly parents’ house. A few people mentioned that even though they are vaccinated they can still be the carriers and they do not want to be the reason for an outbreak on campus, without even knowing about it.

Employees are unhappy with the testing facility shifting to the top floor – students have to take an elevator (or stairs) and they contaminate more workspaces.

The overall feeling amongst employees is that they can trust the management to enforce the appropriate protocols, but they do not trust everyone on campus to follow them all. They are not just worried about themselves but their elderly parents, infants, and other immunocompromised people in their household or community. This makes them reconsider the decision to being back on campus as it jeopardizes the wellbeing of not one but many.