USC limits hiring and plans for coronavirus worst-case scenario
The University of South Carolina has implemented a partial hiring freeze and is planning for worst-case scenarios if coronavirus does not die down any time soon.
“We have asked all campus HR and business managers, as well as deans and other hiring authorities to consider only hiring critical personnel between now and June 15,” USC President Robert Caslen wrote in a Wednesday message to faculty and staff.
The email did not define “critical personnel.”
The long-term decisions, such as when students should be allowed to return to campus and what changes USC will make during fall semester in the wake of coronavirus, will be made by a committee Caslen formed called the Future Planning Group, the email said.
The committee’s findings will be posted online, Caslen said.
Committee membership has yet to be decided, but “will absolutely include participation from faculty and staff from many areas of the university as well as Student Government leadership,” USC spokesman Jeff Stensland said in an email.
USC is also preparing a strategy for a coronavirus “worst-case scenario” that could include delaying capital projects; hiring freezes, including for temporary employees; furloughs; no overtime and “potential pay cuts,” according to the email.
USC has already offered refunds to students and delayed construction of major projects such as Campus Village project and the new health campus. The university is financially strong, but is still on track to lose $20-$40 million through the end of summer, Caslen said in the message.
Caslen noted that all cuts should be as small as possible so USC can spring back quickly after coronavirus dies down, but said the timeline for that is still unclear.
“We are unfortunately on the virus’ timeline instead of our own,” Caslen said.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREHow and why we collect and report the data
Since March 3, when the first positive COVID-19 case was identified in Wake County, The News & Observer has been tracking the number of lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus reported by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
As the state has provided more information on coronavirus testing, case counts, deaths and hospitalizations, we have compiled, analyzed and provided that information to our readers.
For more than three months, the N&O also tracked cases and deaths reported by the health departments for the state’s 100 counties. As cases and deaths have continued to rise, the differences between the state and county data have become less significant, and we now rely on the DHHS-released numbers of cases and deaths in our tracking. We continue to analyze trends in county data and report on information provided only by counties, such as the location of outbreaks.
Read more by clicking the arrow in the upper right.
Why do our numbers often differ slightly from the DHHS count?
DHHS updates their online dashboard once daily around 11am.
Throughout each day, we search individual county health departments’ websites, press releases and social media pages for the most current information on lab-confirmed case counts, along with any other information counties may provide regarding COVID-19 cases that are either not reported to the state or that the state does not release.
We’ve compiled a list of online sources where counties generally update their own daily case information. We check this list several times a day. We also use Crowdtangle, a social media discovery tool, to find, record and release the most current and relevant case information on our website.
Why aren’t you including the numbers of people who have recovered?
DHHS does not currently provide the number of people who have recovered from the virus. Some county health departments, however, do provide that number, but because the reporting is inconsistent and it’s not clear how recovery is being tracked in each location, we have not yet started tracking that information.
Why don’t you include the demographics of those diagnosed?
While DHHS does provide the number of cases by race and ethnicity, for about one-third of those cases the race is unknown. For almost half of the cases, the ethnicity is unknown. Since it is currently unclear which cases are being excluded from the data or why there is no information available, we have chosen not to display that information at this point.
This story was originally published April 9, 2020 at 10:28 AM.