COVID-19 Vaccine and Testing Implementation
Vaccine Implementation
SIU School of Dental Medicine Dean Bruce Rotter, DMD, received the first dose of the Moderna vaccine during a vaccination clinic on the Alton campus January 12. During the clinic, dentists, hygienists and clinical dental students on the Alton campus received the vaccine. Participating individuals received the second and final dose four weeks later. SIUE Health Service Director Riane Greenwalt notes the University’s vaccine distribution clinic aligned with Phase 1A as identified by the Illinois Department of Public Health. Phase 1A includes healthcare personnel and residents of long-term care facilities.
SIUE continues to advocate with Madison County Health Department for on-campus vaccine access for members of the campus community eligible in Phases 1A and 1B (essential frontline workers and adults 65 and older), including our desire to host future on-ground vaccination clinics.
Voluntary Surveillance Testing
Voluntary surveillance testing will be ongoing through April 28 with incentives to participate.
To encourage participation, approximately 600 employees and students are being selected through a random sample and invited to be tested each week. Those participants will be eligible for a variety of incentives, including Cougar Bucks, parking hang-tag raffles and an end-of-semester raffle for a Fall FY22 tuition waiver. Individuals do not need to be invited to be tested, however they will not be eligible for the incentives.
Re-entry COVID Testing
SIUE conducted mandatory re-entry COVID-19 testing January 4-21. All employees and students who were on campus completed a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) COVID-19 test within 48 hours of visiting any SIUE campus, including Alton, East St. Louis or Edwardsville. Students and employees who are learning or working remotely and were not otherwise planning to be on campus did not need to participate in the mandatory testing.
A total of 7,377 faculty, staff and employees were tested as part of the re-entry testing process. On January 22, 6,577 results had been received from the lab, and SIUE was at less than .49% positivity rate with 32 individuals, from 3 campuses, identified as positive.