The Simpson College Management Team decided on Feb. 1 to move the college from the orange phase to the yellow phase.

An email was sent out to the students on Feb. 2 announcing the change.

In the email that was sent out, Hedi Levine, Chair of the Crisis Management Team, said, “During its robust discussion, it was determined that the campus — having met the criteria put in place for the change — could move from its current orange operational phase to yellow.”

The campus has had a 1.1% positivity rate among the students that have been randomly tested for the past two weeks. This lead to the transition to the yellow phase where the positivity rate of the random testing must be under 5%.

The campus as of Feb 2 has had 27 positive cases.

“The most recent cases were related to an out-of-season team that had been working out off-campus and eating together, unmasked and not socially distanced,” Levine said. “They had been asymptomatic and as the team begins testing, we should get a better sense of the impact. The coach is aware and the results were picked up through initial team testing — meaning our interventions, policies and procedures are working well.”

Levine also mentions in the email that they currently are not having capacity issues with students have to quarantine.

“Even with more students who need to isolate choosing to do so on campus, we are seeing an acceptable turnover rate in the Isolation/Quarantine spaces,” Levine said.

With the transition to the yellow phase, students are allowed to events of up to 35 people. The event must be approved by the CMT as well as having students follow proper social distancing and wearing masks.

Residential students can add an additional student to their family unit. Family unit dining will be also available again at Kent Campus Center and Pfeiffer Dining Hall.

Simpson will continue its random testing of 20% of the student population during the yellow phase.