Safety Color Levels
The applicability of the safety color levels is determined by the President’s Cabinet and is based on factors contained in this guidance from the Minnesota Department of Health along with advice from campus and local public health officials. Below is a summary of the levels, corresponding actions, and some of the main indicators that inform the setting of the safety level.
Green: Transmission levels seen as manageable
Indicators of low transmission levels:
- Isolation and Quarantine <50 percent full
- K-12 indicators <10 cases per 10,000 over two weeks
- Contacts are able to be identified at the time of case interview.
- K-12 indicators show less than 10 per 10,000 cases over a 14-day period
Yellow: Transmission levels are beginning to tax campus resources
Indicators of medium transmission levels:
- >1 percent of campus students infected within 14-day period
- Isolation and quarantine 50 to 75 percent full
- Number of infections are increasing over a seven-day period in the county.
- More than 5% of campus cases have unknown links to another case over a seven-day period.
- K-12 indicators show that there are 10-30 cases per 10,000 over a 14-day period
If two or more of the above indicators are met, University administration will consider implementing the following mitigation efforts:
- Extra mitigation efforts like canceling campus events and limiting social gatherings.
- Reinforcing health etiquette expectations.
- Operating classrooms at partial capacity to allow for safe social distancing.
Orange: Transmission levels have further depleted or exhausted institutional resources
Indicators for high transmission levels:
- >3 percent of campus students infected within a 14-day period
- Isolation and quarantine >75 percent full
- Number of infections continue to increase over the two weeks after Scenario 2 mitigation efforts have been put into place.
- K-12 indicators show that there are more than 30 cases per 10,000 over a 14-day period
If two or more of the above indicators are met, University administration will consider implementing the following mitigation efforts:
- Scaling back in-person student support services and canceling specific class sections or campus events.
- Imposing a campus curfew.
- Increasing frequency of cleaning and disinfecting on campus.
- Restricting outside access to residence halls.
- Moving to grab-and-go options for dining.
Red: Transmission levels have significantly depleted institutional resources
Sustained high risk indicators:
- Additional mitigation efforts do not improve indicators over a 14-day period
Recommended action:
- Suspend in-person activities and shift to remote-only operations.
