Coronavirus Updates

July 19, 2022

The landscape of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to shift as Hillsborough County (along with most of the country) is now living in what is considered to be an endemic response to COVID-19.  Variants of the virus are now very present within our communities and Hillsborough County is now at a high level of community infection.

Due to the high infection rate, Emergency Paid Sick Leave (EPSL) has been reinstated for COVID-related illness as of July 19.  Employees will be eligible for up to 75 hours of EPSL and once expended, will be ineligible for additional EPSL. Employees utilizing EPSL will be required to provide a doctor’s note to Kim Pasquinelli, kpasquinelli@hccfl.edu, in Human Resources.

We would strongly encourage you to continue to utilize those public health strategies that you deem appropriate including mask use (when appropriate), vaccination, hand washing and effective COVID-19 treatments.

While the Hawk Tracing Protocol has been discontinued, the College will continue to provide COVID-19 prevention resources throughout our campuses.  These include:

• Maintaining our COVID-19 Campus Resource Persons team to monitor the state of the endemic, assist with policy issues related to COVID-19 and work with individual campus leadership with COVID-related inquiries.
• Continuing to fully stock our COVID-19 Kiosks.
• Providing the HCC community with the latest COVID-19 information and community-based resources.
• Our COVID-19 Campus Resource Persons will remain available to answer your questions.

The Back To The Nest webpages will continue to be the repository for all HCC COVID-19-related information including vaccination and testing sites.

HCC continues with the “if you are sick, stay home” policy.  Individuals should follow CDC recommendations related to exposure and quarantine for COVID-19 and the flu.    We are also developing further guidelines for faculty, staff and students to follow when this occurs.  If you feel ill, please contact your instructor, supervisor or dean/manager and do not come to campus.

Dr. Ken Atwater

See Previous COVID-19 Updates

This notice is intended for all faculty members.  Deans – please ensure that this notice is forwarded to your part-time, adjunct faculty. 

As more HCC faculty return to onsite classes, we understand there are questions concerning returning to the campuses. We will continue to monitor and follow the CDC recommendations, recognizing that they may change as new information is reported.

If you feel ill, please contact your supervisor or dean/manager and do not come to campus. 

• While in quarantine, the employee should work remotely with supervisor approval and if their job description allows to do that. If the job description does not allow the employee to work remotely, then the supervisor/employee should contact Kim Pasquinelli in Human Resources to use the Emergency Paid Sick Leave. The EPSL is currently available through June 30, 2022.   
• If you are coming off of quarantine please make certain you're symptom free before returning to campus. 

The Back To The Nest webpages will continue to be the repository for all HCC COVID-19-related information including vaccination and testing sites. Please see link below for further guidance: https://www.hccfl.edu/support-services/public-safety/back-campus
    
For further campus specific inquiries, questions or locations of our COVID-19 Supply Kiosks please contact our Campus Resource Persons Team:https://www.hccfl.edu/support-services/public-safety/back-campus/covid-campus-resource-persons-and-kiosks

HCC is committed to full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as amended by the Americans with Disabilities Amendment Act (ADAAA) and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibit discrimination against qualified persons with disabilities, as well as other federal and state laws pertaining to individuals with disabilities.

If you have questions, please contact Human Resources at hradarequest@hccfl.edu or call 813.253.7108.

• For information, go to HCFLGov.net/COVIDTesting.