As the University continues to make plans for a return to campus, the health and safety of all members of our community remain our top priority. This message is an update to our Rhody community on the planning and preparations underway for a safe return to URI campuses over the next few months and into the fall.

Teams of employees are working to prepare campus buildings for re-occupancy. This summer, you will start to notice new signs about room occupancy, travel paths, elevator guidance, stairway directions, and much more. Additionally, furniture is being moved out of common spaces in most buildings to help provide more physical distancing while still allowing for the enjoyment of the campus’ academic, research, and student life spaces.

As part of the COVID-19 effort, Facilities Operations and the Office of Capital Projects evaluated all URI buildings that employ forced air systems for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC). We engaged Tighe and Bond, a mechanical engineering firm, to aid in the evaluation and reconfiguring of these systems. The University follows guidelines from ASHRAE (The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) in as many locations as possible. The following steps have been taken where appropriate:

• Relying on as much outside (fresh) air as possible rather than recycling building air. This can be achieved through several different methods depending on the HVAC system.
• Eliminating efficiency setbacks. For energy efficiency, it is common to “set back” a building’s temperature and ventilation settings while it isn’t occupied. To keep air circulating through the building, we will run our systems on longer or continuous programs.
• In buildings where fresh air intake is not possible at a high rate, we employ higher level filtration where possible.
• In buildings without forced air we look to operable windows and adjusting any mechanical exhaust systems a building may have.
• Checking all HVAC systems to make sure they are running to original specifications as much as possible.

The University has buildings of various ages and therefore there is no single application that can be employed unilaterally. The objective in this effort is to take every reasonable precaution to ensure as healthy a building environment as possible. We are coupling these efforts with our cleaning and disinfecting efforts to promote a healthy environment for our students, faculty and staff.

The University will continue to communicate developments with you as we move ahead incrementally to prepare for the return to our campuses.

Updated August 6, 2020