Covid prevention at University Park: Is it effective?
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State Covid Center director has confidence in containing the spread of COVID-19 on campus despite students’ doubts about the university tactics.
Penn State COVID-19 Operations Control Center Director Kelly Wolgast said that the vaccination rate aided in the process of Penn State’s decision for the spring semester.
“We knew that you students were really highly vaccinated especially if you’re at University Park,” Wolgast said. “[…] So we knew that vaccine was going to help us keep the cases at a reasonable rate as well.”
Penn State announced in late December to start the spring semester in-person with hybrid options for the first week of class. This decision factored in “local hospital capacity, the spread of the coronavirus variant and local, state and national pandemic conditions,” according to Penn State press release.
Wolgast believed, based on what was going on in Pennsylvania, “the students were safer back on campus… among people who are also very vaccinated.”
“We also took a look at what was happening in the community, making sure that we were in line and synchronized with what was going on,” Wolgast said.
The main Covid-preventing tactics at University Park were comprehensive testing, contact tracing, quarantine, isolation, and indoor mask mandate. Penn State required students who were not fully vaccinated to test weekly at the White Building testing site. Students who tested positive would quarantine at home or a quarantine room on campus. Contact tracing officers then asked students in close contact with a positive case to quarantine at least seven days since their last contact.
Kyle Hamlet, sophomore — computer science, thought Penn State was “doing a good job” preventing the spread of Covid.
“My thoughts are that Penn State is following policy, which they have created to prevent covid, and will follow through no matter the situation,” Hamlet said. “Honestly, there isn’t much different I’d do if I were Penn State.”
However, Ting Lee, senior — supply chain and information systems, begged to differ.
“It would be more helpful if Penn State encouraged more people to get vaccinated,” she said.
Before the fall semester began, Penn State offered several vaccine incentives to encourage vaccination among students and employees. Qualified students and faculty were eligible for a weekly drawing of cash, a gift card, or an autographed football.
“Penn State has devoted a lot of resources providing testing for students […} and we have a lot of vaccine clinics on campus,” Wolgast shared. “What we need to do is continue to help students understand what personal health is all about.”
Regardless of the university’s efforts, Lee thought Penn State could do more. She emphasized that although vaccination was not compulsory at Penn State or State College, New York was considering a vaccine mandate for students.
However, unless there was a change at the state level, Wolgast said there would not be a vaccine mandate for the general student population anytime soon. She added that Penn State was currently abiding by a federal contractor mandate that already covered students who were campus employees.
Penn State Law student Kara Brownlie thought campus-wide comprehensive testing was “helpful” and “reassuring” in mitigating the spread of Omicron yet was not as confident in contact tracing.
“I haven’t had experience with contact tracing, but I don’t think it’s as good as it should be,” Brownlie said. “I was around people that had Covid, and maybe they reported it, but I didn’t get notified […] and I feel like I should have.”
Regarding Brownlie’s concerns around contact tracing efficiency, Wolgast believed the situation had to do with the evolution of the pandemic.
“It’s about the change in the dynamics of the pandemic, not the fact that contact tracing isn’t working,” Wolgast said. “We really have adjusted our contact tracing to support the students’ needs.”
Penn State’s compliance with science was what Wolgast thought the university was doing right despite there being room for improvement.
“We always follow the science. We always follow public health,” Wolgast said. “We’ve always put the health and welfare of our students, our employees at the forefront, and we’re continuing to do that.”
