Tec de Monterrey cancels onsite classes to prevent spread of COVID-19

Although it doesn’t yet have any cases of COVID-19, Tec de Monterrey will cancel onsite classes as a preventive measure from Tuesday 17.

The measure will apply to high schools and undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Whether these measures will continue or not will be evaluated over the Holy Week recess.

 

Here’s the full announcement (words in bold have been selected by CONECTA editors):

CORONAVIRUS ANNOUNCEMENT – TECNOLÓGICO DE MONTERREY

March 12, 2020

To all of our student and parent community,

Due to the international spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, Tecnológico de Monterrey is taking steps to ensure the health and safety of everyone in our community. The Covid-19 epidemic is a global reality that we cannot ignore. We’ve been following official announcements from the competent authorities in Mexico and WHO recommendations of regarding the development of this disease closely, in detail, and thoroughly.

Today, we have the advantage of knowing what’s been happening in the rest of the world and have a better understanding of how this pandemic spreads, how it behaves, and the outlook predicted for Mexico. We also know how countries and institutions have managed to reduce its impact in terms of both propagation and fatalities.

As the Tec is a prominent institution in our society, we therefore have two fundamental concerns: the safety of our community and the impact we may have on the country. Tec de Monterrey is an educational institution with three distinguishing characteristics, all of which are very relevant in this context:

• We’re a global institution with international programs, exchanges, and activities involving thousands of students, teachers, and collaborators continuously in scores of countries, many of which are already experiencing advanced stages of this pandemic’s impact;
• We’re a very large, connected university community consisting of more than 150,000 students and 30,000 collaborators;
• Our geographical footprint spans the nation, with campuses in more than 25 cities and a great deal of personal interaction.

Therefore, although no cases have occurred so far in our university community, the following decisions have been taken as a preventive measure in order to assist in mitigating, delaying, and minimizing escalation of this contagion and its appearance in Mexico at the “community transmission” stage:

1. We’ll be canceling onsite classes at high school, undergraduate, and postgraduate levels as of Tuesday March 17 and starting virtual programs for online academic continuity as of Monday 23. We’ll utilize the coming week to prepare ourselves correctly, as well as academics and support staff, in order to attend to all of our students with the technologies already being used in our model.
2. All academic and student events at the different campuses in Mexico will be suspended until further notice.
3. Students living in halls of residence may remain in these or return to their homes in order to follow courses online. Everybody should follow the prevention and protection measures that we’ll be announcing at all times.
4. We’ll reevaluate the need for these measures to continue during the Holy Week recess and announce any decision promptly through our official channels.

The Tec comprises an extensive national and global community that seeks to be at the forefront of issues which are relevant to the whole of society. In light of these extraordinary circumstances, this responsibility to our community and the country obliges us to take precautions, think ahead, and follow current international trends in the struggle against the spread of this pandemic. It’s up to all of us to take steps to mitigate and limit contagion by this or other diseases. We therefore remind you that although taking precautions and looking after ourselves is important, it’s also essential that we stay calm, don’t self-medicate, don’t spread questionable information, and pay attention to announcements from official institutions.

With this in mind, we’ve created the official website https://tec.mx/es/coronavirus-covid-19, where you can find official announcements from this institution, the measures we’ll be implementing, and useful information on how to proceed as individuals and as part of the Tec. This site will be continually updated as the situation develops.

If you wish to get in touch for further information, please do so as follows:

• Through Bienestar y Consejería (Wellbeing & Counseling), as well as the medical care units on each campus.
• Or via telephone by calling:
• The TecSalud Epidemiological Monitoring Unit on 812.355.9928
• For health problems, the TQueremos helpline on 800.813.9500 is in operation 24/7 365 days a year.