The free campus testing on Wednesday, November 3 revealed six positive COVID-19 cases on campus. It was the highest number seen all year for Lyndon. Five of the cases were connected to an off-campus Halloween party where students were unmasked indoors. In response to the sudden uptick, Lyndon opened extra testing on Friday, November 5. The extra testing of 169 staff and students revealed four more cases, three of which were students and one faculty member.
These ten cases were “breakthrough cases” as described by Dean of Students Jonathan Davis, meaning all individuals infected have been completely vaccinated. It is campus policy that all students, staff, and visitors to campus must be vaccinated. According to the CDC, vaccines are still doing well protecting against death, hospitalizations, and severe cases of COVID, but there is some reduced protection against milder forms of covid.
Follow-up testing on November 10 showed three more COVID-19 cases at NVU-Lyndon. Two more cases were revealed from on-campus testing on November 15, and another was announced the following day from an off-campus testing facility. Just before students left for Thanksgiving break, one more COVID-19 case was announced on November 18.
Davis commented that most clusters of cases were from private social gatherings, even following the party, not from classrooms or dining areas on campus. “This has got the makings of a vicious cycle, he told The Critic.
According to the NVU COVID tracker, there have been a total of 23 cases throughout the 2021 fall semester at NVU-Lyndon. More than 70% of the total cases on campus occurred in November. Interim President John W. Mills commented on the increase in cases, saying, “With Vermont breaking records in number of positives, we are doing quite well. I’d prefer we had zero cases and we must keep up our strong preventative measure to hold steady.”
As part of the continued efforts to prevent more cases, NVU-Lyndon and the National Guard offered booster vaccinations to students, faculty, and members of the Lyndon community on November 3. The CDC recommends booster vaccines for populations at a higher risk of transmission, including environments like colleges.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, it was NVU’s top priority to protect students. The university followed the CDC’s and Vermont General Health Commissioner’s guidelines to reopen. According to Davis, “We were able to start the fall semester somewhat more normally but quickly we experienced an uptick [in cases]. We weren’t planning to have indoor masking, only unvaccinated students with exemptions had to remain masked indoors, but then the uptick came and we had to reverse that.”
Thanksgiving break is now underway and most students have left campus for the holiday. The CDC recommends those traveling and those around unvaccinated people in social gatherings to mask up. “Our state positives remain high. Take care—for your health and the wellbeing of all NVU community members. #MASKUPNVU #VAXUPNVU” President Mills wrote in a recent email.
Feature Photo by Carter Toro || Signs are posted across campus letting visitors and campus residents know NVU’s COVID-19 guidelines.