Public health update: Dec. 21, 2021
Dear OHIO community members,
Please join me in celebrating some amazing news that all of us at Ohio University can be proud of: Our Athens campus has now achieved a vaccination rate of 91.1 percent, and our all-campus vaccination rate is at 88 percent! As the COVID environment worsens with the emergence of the omicron variant, this will help prevent serious illness and limit spread when we return to campus next month.
We also want to thank our partners at the Athens City-County Health Department, Heritage College Community Health Programs, the College of Health Sciences and Professions, the School of Nursing, the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, and many other volunteers for their tireless efforts. Together we have hosted more than 70 COVID-19 vaccination clinics on the Athens campus!
We are grateful also to our partners who helped host vaccination clinics on our regional campuses: Fairfield County Health Department, Belmont County Health Department, Ross County Health District, Zanesville-Muskingum County Health Department, and Lawrence County Health Department. Offering vaccination clinics on OHIO campuses has highlighted what communities can achieve with collaboration.
Get vaccinated and record your booster
If you are fully vaccinated but not yet boosted, we encourage you to get your booster as soon as you qualify. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently strengthened its booster recommendations, encouraging everyone 16 years and older to receive a booster shot if it has been at least six months since their first Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or two months after their single J&J vaccine.
According to the CDC, the initial COVID-19 vaccine doses continue to work well to prevent severe illness, hospitalization, and death against the delta variant. However, public health experts are starting to see reduced protection against mild and moderate disease over time. We are still learning about vaccine efficacy against severe disease, hospitalization, and death with the omicron variant, but early research suggests some reduction in vaccine efficacy. Early studies indicate that boosters help increase immune response and improve efficacy against omicron.
After you receive your booster, please let us know so that we can continue measuring the relative safety of our University community. Record your booster information here.
We have the tools to fight omicron
With omicron increasing its foothold every day, we will continue to employ the tools we have to minimize its effects among our OHIO community. We will continue to work together to curb transmission:
- Get fully vaccinated and boosted
- Mask in public places or when gathering with unvaccinated individuals or those at high risk for severe disease
- Test before gathering indoors with non-household members
- Avoid large gatherings
- Wash hands and cover coughs and sneezes
We know from doing contact tracing that nearly all spread among our OHIO community occurs outside of our classrooms. Transmission takes place during gatherings -- both public and private -- when people let their guard down. We encourage you to continue to use the tools we have this holiday season and when we return to campus.
COVID-19 Protocol remains in effect over break
Students, faculty, and staff who experience COVID-19 symptoms, are exposed to COVID-19, or test positive for COVID-19 during winter break are expected to follow the OHIO COVID-19 Protocol.
COVID Operations’ team of COVID Campus Liaisons is available by phone (740-566-8445) and email (COVIDoperations@ohio.edu) Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and noon to 5 p.m. on weekends, except for certain holiday hours.
Testing centers closed for break, reopen dates set
Asymptomatic COVID-19 testing centers are now closed on the Athens campus for the winter break closure. The CVS testing center will reopen on January 3, 2022. The Vault Health testing center will reopen January 8, 2022.
Joy and care this holiday season
We are so grateful that this holiday season we have the tools and knowledge needed to safely spend time with people we care about. Please remember that masking, doing rapid tests before holiday gatherings, and staying home if we are not feeling well are steps we all can take to ensure our holidays and the New Year are happy and healthy.
We wish you a safe and restful holiday season!
Dr. Gillian Ice
Special Assistant to the President for Public Health Operations