April 16, 2021
Dear RVU Family:
Positive COVID-19 cases have increased 1.82% nationally from last week. Colorado has experienced an increase of 1.34% and Utah has increased .56%. Hopefully, we will continue to see a downward trend as more people become vaccinated.
Vaccine Update:
As of April 13th, 36% of the US population has been vaccinated. The exact percent required to achieve herd immunity is not known but most experts believe it is much higher than the current amount of people immunized against SARS-CoV-2. Some people remain hesitant to be vaccinated, despite millions of doses administered to date, with safety data supporting these vaccines as both safe and effective. Vaccine "pauses", such as we are seeing this week with the Janssen/J&J vaccine, are done under an abundance of caution. It often takes millions of doses of vaccine before rare complications such as the 6 cerebral venous sinus clots with associated low platelets are revealed. These rare complications occur at a rate of less than one in a million and are currently under investigation. Data comparing these rare events to the expected number of similar events in non-vaccinated people is underway, in an effort to determine causality. Safety data continues to be gathered for all three of the available vaccines, but severe adverse reactions that can be life-altering or deadly remain far less than the risk of contracting the novel coronavirus and suffering severe complications, including death. The CDC has released a statement and still considers all the available vaccines safe, effective, and necessary to help us return to a semblance of normal.
With more people becoming vaccinated, it’s starting to feel a little more like normal. Please remember that even though you may be fully vaccinated, it is still important to observe safety protocol for everyone’s continued protection. RVU is still in Phase Blue and will continue to adhere to and enforce the Phase Blue safety standards (wearing masks, practicing social distancing, appropriate hand washing, etc.). Students are also asked to adhere to the limited study room capacity.
Vaccine Clinic Update:
CO: Please visit the RVHC at www.rockyvistahc.com to schedule an appointment. If no appointments are posted, continue to check back as appointments are added once the health center is advised on how many doses of the vaccine will be received each week.
UT: Roll Up Your Sleeves! The Utah campus will be holding its first vaccine clinic tomorrow, April 17 from 8:00 - 10:30 a.m. Please visit the RVU-SU COVID Vaccine Clinic webpage located here https://www.rvu.edu/ut/vaccine-clinic/ and register to receive your vaccination. Faculty, staff, and student doctors are participating in this clinic and we need your help in getting this information out into our community. Please also feel free to send the link to family, friends, colleagues, and loved ones, and please share the link on your social media. Let’s help get Southern Utah vaccinated!
We hope you have a wonderful weekend and continue to stay safe as we inch our way back to normal!
Professionally yours,
COVID-19 Response Team
