EDITORIAL: The Signal establishes its new normal

It is a brave new world

On March 5, the Harris County Public Health Department confirmed the first two positive cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus can manifest in people either symptomatically or asymptomatically (called carriers). Symptoms include fever, difficulty breathing, tiredness and a non-productive (dry) cough.

The World Health Organization named the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus COVID-19. While nicknames for the disease like “corona” and “Miss Rona” are acceptable colloquially and on social media platforms, The Signal will only use COVID-19 when reporting on the disease. The phrase “coronavirus” can refer to a number of illnesses like SARS, MERS and pneumonia in addition to COVID-19, which could lead to confusion if used interchangeably with COVID-19 in a news article.

The Signal strongly advises against using names for the disease that speak to racism and xenophobia. These names include those used by President Donald Trump that single out one region or one group of individuals. This is a global disease and rhetoric like that leads to “them” versus “us” mentalities.

But for Hawks at UHCL

On March 9, the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) students, faculty and staff received messages from the University of Houston (UH) System Chancellor Renu Khator and UHCL President Ira K. Blake about the UH System and UHCL’s responses to COVID-19. Two days later, the university community was informed classes were canceled the week of March 16-20 and when classes resumed, they would be online or conducted through an alternative method. 

At 8:15 a.m. on March 24, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo issued a “Stay Home, Work Safe” order. At 5:03 p.m., UHCL posted on its social media platforms the campus would be closed to all non-essential work, as campus operations will be moved online March 25 – April 3. 

The Signal continues

The Signal’s mission is to inform, educate and engage the UHCL community and as part of upholding its mission, The Signal will continue to run issues, because being a paper of record during this time is critical – students need to know there is someone who is telling the stories they need and want to read.

The newspaper’s focus is, and will always be, the students who attend UHCL. The paper is always asking “how is this going to affect the students” and a global pandemic does not and cannot change that. 

As a weekly paper, The Signal cannot always publish up-to-date facts even though the paper does its best to keep information current despite limitations. The stories published will be about the people of UHCL and the impact COVID-19 has had on the UHCL community. However, The Signal will also publish more lighthearted content in order to provide needed breaks from the coverage of the pandemic.

The Signal has published FAQs and resources for students and will update them as more information regarding COVID-19’s impact on UHCL becomes available.

Providing transparent and accurate stories

The Signal staff is always working to make sure students have continuous coverage, especially with COVID-19 causing changes to be made for the university almost daily.

Because COVID-19 is highly infectious, The Signal has decided that all interviews must be conducted through phone or email. Much of UHCL’s staff has been directed to refer all questions to administrators. Thus, responses are approved by UHCL’s Marketing and Communications department to ensure consistency in answers. 

While reporters understand this is done to prevent confusion, it also makes it harder to inform students via various points of view. 

Making sure everything aligns with UHCL’s Marketing and Communications department also causes a massive delay in responses, which, in turn, causes stories to be published later than anticipated.

Without a variety of voices, The Signal is unable to offer articles with a range of perspectives from those employees directly impacted by the current changes COVID-19 has caused.

Even as the world turns

COVID-19 is happening to everyone ー to the editors and reporters, to the students and administrators, to the faculty and staff ー sacrifices in comfort and ease are to be expected and handled with dignity.

The editors are still students. They are in this with the rest of the student population. They are in your classes and student groups. Some have lost jobs outside of the newspaper or have had their income drastically cut because of the pandemic. They are not only reporting the news but are now a part of the news.

Regardless, the editors and reporters are working night and day to make sure every UHCL student’s voice is heard.

Prior to Hidalgo’s “Stay Home, Work Safe” order, some student workersー including The Signal Staff – were required to leave the safety of their homes and come to campus even though classes have transitioned to being fully online. 

Student-workers earn an hourly wage, which now has to be stretched as much as possible to accommodate being home 100% of the time. Many of these same student workers have lost their method of transportation because of the suspension of UHCL shuttle services.

Not to mention, all student workers are now faced with the challenges of distance learning among the threat of COVID-19. Thus, requiring them to report to work as if it were business as usual added unnecessary stress to an already stressful situation.

An order by the Harris County Judge should not have been what seemingly prompted actions. The university administration owes it to their students to ensure their safety trumps manning offices. 

When the university decided to move classes online, they should have also announced a closure of the university as a whole. Not doing so has caused a massive unnecessary risk to the continued spread of COVID-19, endangering countless lives.

Granted, the university may have needed extra time to get prepared for campus operations being moved fully online. However, it does not excuse the not-so-clear choice of keeping campus open to all persons until this week.

Fluid situation or not, a pandemic is not the time to take delayed actions. In a world that has seen previous pandemics, it is naive to not think a disease such as COVID-19 could not possibly impact institutions of higher education in America.   

For all the students out there, just remember The Signal is here to help everyone get through this crazy time together.