Students will return to a “pre-pandemic” campus in the fall after continuous monitoring by the University of Alabama System Health and Safety Task Force while COVID-19 cases rise and the vaccination rate remains low in Alabama.
Selwyn Vickers, senior vice president and dean of the UAB School of Medicine and chair of the task force, said this decision came after looking at how high the numbers were from August through February when there were over a thousand new cases per day and comparing those to where we are now with a vaccine.
“When we look back at where we were into the height of the pandemic, we look at the efficacy of the vaccine and we also look at the response of how our community has responded to the vaccine, we felt it was the safe and prudent thing to do to return to in person activities,” Vickers said.
This return to in-person activities means going back to “pre-pandemic” university policies according to an email sent by President Ray Watts on Tuesday.
As for the response the community had to the vaccine, the same email said a large portion of UAB employees have been vaccinated and over half of students have been vaccinated.
“Roughly 70% of UAB employees have been vaccinated at UAB Medicine. Through survey data and confirmed vaccinations, we estimate that at least 12,500 UAB students (more than half) have been vaccinated, and incentives are now available to students to get vaccinated and upload their vaccine card,” Watts said.
In December 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci estimated between 70% to 80% of the population would need to be vaccinated in order to reach herd immunity. That is, enough people would be vaccinated so the virus doesn’t transmit freely. Other diseases such as measles and polio require at least 80% of the population to be vaccinated to reach herd immunity according to Yale Medicine.
Currently only around 33% of Alabama’s population has been fully vaccinated.
The decision to return to a pre-pandemic campus comes as COVID-19 cases rise. Although there were under 200 new cases of COVID-19 per day in most of June, since July 5 there have not been less than 350 new cases per day. There were over 600 new cases per day from July 12 through 18.
There has also been a rise in the Delta variant, which is classified as a variant of concern. Other variants of concern include Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. According to the Alabama Department of Public Health, 890 cases of the Alpha variant have been reported in the state.
“These variants are more transmissible, specifically the Alpha and the Delta, and some variants have less response to treatments such as monoclonal antibodies,” ADPH said in the latest COVID-19 update.
The task force is concerned about the rise in COVID-19 cases and Delta variant according to the latest update to the Health and Safety Plan.
“Widespread vaccination is key to mitigating further increases,” the update said.
Vickers said the UA System is working to make sure students get the vaccine.
“We will do all we can when our students come back, short of mandating, to encourage them to take the vaccine,” said Vickers.
This includes incentives to get vaccinated such as $20 in Blazer Bucks for students who share their immunization information with Student Health Services through the patient portal. Students can see how to upload their vaccine information on the home page when they log into the patient portal.
Registered Student Organizations will also receive funds for catering, allowed purchases and travel if at least 70% of their members are vaccinated by Aug. 23. This will be verified with student health records.
UAB cannot mandate the vaccine for students due to a law passed in May banning “vaccine passports” that also prohibits colleges from requiring new vaccinations that were not already required as of Jan. 1, 2021. The law does not prohibit businesses, schools or other entities from requiring masks. It also does not prohibit the use of incentives to encourage getting vaccinated.
