According to DePauw’s COVID-19 Dashboard, there have been eight new cases on campus this past week, seven of whom were students. The campus status is yellow, which means that COVID-19 is “managed” and “cases of COVID-19 occur in well-defined clusters on our campus,” according to the website.
Julia Proctor, assistant dean of student wellness, said that some students “have not reported their symptoms in a timely fashion, sometimes waiting up to three days before notifying a University official or a member of the DePauw Health Wellness Center staff.” She also said students had admitted that they had continued to socialize and attend in-person events while experiencing symptoms.
As of Friday, according to Harry Burgan, a sophomore in Delta Upsilon, six of the eight cases were in DU, and all of the individuals were vaccinated. Burgan said sick house members were isolating and he was staying outside of the house as much as possible.
90% of students and 89% of staff are fully vaccinated, according to the dashboard. However, Proctor reminded, “the COVID-19 vaccine does not protect you from being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19; it is meant to give you additional immunity to help your body fight off the virus if you are infected.”
The campus status has been yellow since the start of the school year. According to Indiana’s COVID-19 dashboard, Putnam County is seeing an increase in cases overall.
To help mitigate the spread of the virus, Proctor stressed the importance of “doing a regular self-check each day to monitor for any symptoms of COVID-19,” and offered students the link to the personal assessment on DePauw’s website to assess their symptoms. Students experiencing symptoms should isolate themselves and report their symptoms.
“We want students to remember to call the DePauw Health Wellness Center to report any symptoms; they can be reached at 765-658-4555, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Anyone who seeks testing outside of the University should email c19testing@depauw.edu to share their symptoms and where/when they sought testing,” Proctor said.
Although the COVID-19 mitigation team is “consistently reviewing potential policy changes,” according to Proctor, they do not have any policy changes planned.