COVID-19 Information

April 16, 2020

Dear Campus Community, 

We hope that you have been able to enjoy Faculty/Staff Appreciation Week.

 Commencement exercises begin with the School of Pharmacy on May 1. For a complete schedule, visit siue.edu/commencement/events. The Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion will be hosting an array of graduation celebrations beginning the week of April 26. For the graduation celebrations schedule, visit siue.edu/csdi/events/.

We are still awaiting further instruction from the Governor’s Office in regard to A Bridge to Phase 5. SIUE continues to follow Restore Illinois Phase 4 guidelines.

Please refer to the campus wide email distributed earlier today, Friday, April 16, for details related to new international and domestic travel guidelines.

Vaccine Clinic

The Madison County Health Department will be hosting a COVID vaccine clinic on the Edwardsville campus for all SIUE faculty, staff, and students ages 16 and older. The clinic will provide appointments for the Pfizer vaccine. 

• To make an appointment for the April 21 Pfizer vaccine clinic follow this link: https://events.juvare.com/IL-IDPH/3hw7x/.
• The vaccination clinic will be held at the SIUE Student Fitness Center.
• Students who are fully vaccinated or will become fully vaccinated through this April 21 series are eligible to win a variety of prizes including a laptop, an iPad mini and more. To be entered into the prize drawing, students must complete and submit this form.

Anyone unable to schedule their second dose at the SIUE clinic and needing assistance in scheduling a second dose in their home area may connect with SIUE Health Service for further direction and assistance at CougarCare@siue.edu. 

Additional Upcoming Vaccine Clinic Opportunities

• Collinsville at the Gateway Convention Center
  • April 15-17
  • Register at: https://events.juvare.com/IL-IDPH/e91f6226-ec18-4b9a-841b-8f6f9e887767/ 
• Granite City at the Township Building
  • April 17
  • Register at: https://events.juvare.com/IL-IDPH/909cf5af-ffbc-4041-972c-fbdac92fb90d/

At this time Madison County is offering the Pfizer vaccine at all clinic sites.

Effective Tuesday, April 13, the Federal Drug Administration paused the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine to investigate the severe adverse events of 6 individuals (in 6.8 million doses given). “Public health officials made a commitment that any safety signals that came up concerning COVID-19 vaccines would be fully addressed in a transparent manner, which is what is occurring right now with the J&J vaccine,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “The blood clot cases appear to be extremely rare and there are no reported cases associated with either the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Moderna vaccines.”

Moving to SHIELD Testing

This week, we moved to SHIELD Illinois to perform our surveillance testing. Individuals are required to register with SHIELD Illinois to make an appointment and complete COVID-19 testing. Visit https://forms.office.com/r/QvChjQs6tb, to create an account and obtain an appointment. No insurance is required, and testing is free. The surveillance screening tests are on a voluntary basis. If you have already been vaccinated or are in the process of completing your vaccine, CDC still recommends to get tested.

Surveillance Testing

Surveillance testing continues on all three campuses with 364 tested this week. With 0 positive tests, we had a positivity rate of 0%. More information can be found on the dashboard. As stated above, surveillance screening tests are on a voluntary basis. However, to encourage participation, employees and students are selected through a random sample and invited to be tested. Those invited next week will be provided with the following incentives to participate: 

• Students
  • Monthly raffle for parking hangtag FY22 
  • One end-of-semester raffle for a Fall FY22 tuition waiver 
• Faculty/Staff 
  • One beverage or bakery item (not to exceed $5.00) at the MUC Starbucks 
  • Monthly raffle for parking hangtag FY22 

Individuals do not need to be invited to be tested. However, they will not be eligible for the incentives listed above.

Here are a few tips to get you in and out as efficiently as possible:

• Appointments should be obtained at https://forms.office.com/r/QvChjQs6tb
• Be sure that you are hydrated before your appointment by eating or drinking up to 30 minutes prior to your arrival at the testing site​. Do not eat or drink in the 60 minutes prior to testing. 
• Arrive at your appointment time, so that we may maintain small groups in the testing area.

Per CDC/IDPH guidelines, if you are experiencing symptoms or believe you are a close contact to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, do not participate in this surveillance testing. Employees and students who tested positive within the last 90 days should not test. 

Finally, remember if you are feeling ill, don’t come to campus. If you are under quarantine or isolation, do not leave it early.

Please continue to practice grace with one another and with yourselves. We are proud to serve with you.

Stay safe and be well,  

Randy Pembrook, Chancellor    
Denise Cobb, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs    
Jessica Harris, Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion 
Rachel Stack, Vice Chancellor for Advancement    
Morris Taylor, Vice Chancellor for Administration    
Jeffrey Waple, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs