Campus Update & Community Request

Good afternoon MMA Students, Faculty, and Staff,

I had planned to send out an email to everyone this weekend to celebrate our milestone of completing nine weeks of instruction. Your flexibility, resilience, and hard work have gotten us to this point. We are now three-quarters of the way through the term. Well Done!!!

The reason I’m contacting you now is due to the significant rise in positive cases being detected in Maine.  While we have been able to keep COVID-19 from impacting our on-campus activities up to this point, through all of your efforts and compliance with the 12 Ways to 12 Weeks protocols, there now is increased risk that the virus is around us. While our surveillance testing has not determined any positive cases this week, we have had a number of people on campus who have been placed in quarantine due to their contacts with people off campus who later tested positive.  In addition, we have suspended athletic practices and closed the training room while awaiting test results of several student athletes who have been identified as close contacts of a close contact of a positive case.  This is out of an abundance of caution and exceeds CDC requirements for testing and quarantine.

We are so close to the finish of this term that I feel I must make the following request. Please consider staying in Castine, or wherever your local residence is, for the next four weekends. If you feel that you must travel, please do not go to large gatherings and try to limit your close contacts. We are all connected in our activities here on campus and increasing the number of people in our “circles” creates additional risk that could impact our last few weeks of this term.

No one wants to finish the semester in quarantine. It only takes one person to bring the virus into your life or back to campus. If that occurs, it may result in us not completing this term and impeding our plans to get everyone back on track by the end of 2021. Please take this seriously and focus on safely finishing the term.

That being said, I remain extremely proud of all of you and your willingness to adapt and succeed under very challenging conditions. Thank you for all that you are doing and will do. Stay safe out there and please let me know if you have any questions.

Best regards,
Prof. Mark Cote

CAPT Mark Coté, USN(Ret) PE
Acting Provost/Academic Dean