ISSUED: 30 September 2021
MEDIA CONTACT: Dana Costa
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — The current surge in COVID-19 cases has not prevented Shepherd University from offering students a near-normal fall 2021 semester, while keeping the spread of the coronavirus to a minimum.
“I think we’ve done exceptionally well,” said Holly Morgan Frye, vice president for student affairs and chair of the campus health task force.
As the semester began in late August, the university asked students and employees to do one of three things—verify they are taking classes fully online, show they are vaccinated, or show a negative PCR test and participate in surveillance testing.
“The majority of our staff and students have done one of these and most of our students are trying to be compliant,” Frye said.
Shepherd’s vaccination rate is higher than the rates in the surrounding communities. Centers for Disease Control statistics show that as of September 29, the vaccination rate for Jefferson County is 31.2 percent, for Berkeley County 30.1 percent, and for Washington County, Maryland, 50.2. As of September 24, 87 percent of Shepherd’s employees have received COVID-19 vaccines and 67 percent of the students are vaccinated. For students residing on campus, 75 percent are vaccinated.
“I am very pleased with where we are,” Frye said. “Everything could turn on a dime. An outbreak of the delta variant can happen so quickly, but so far, we have not had that. I feel we’ve done a tremendous job at maintaining and keeping everything in check.”
The campus health task force is made up of representatives from all areas of the university, including residence life, academics, facilities management, student affairs, and athletics. Shepherd’s Student Health Center handles COVID testing, contact tracing, and notification of contacts and positive patients.
“We have administered vaccines through the state and we initiate quarantines and isolations for contacts and positive cases,” said Rebecca Boehler, Student Health Center director.
Students, employees, and campus visitors who have symptoms or who have been exposed to COVID are encouraged to fill out an online form that goes to the health center so Boehler and her staff can offer advice.
“It is working well,” she said. “The concerns on the form range from a positive test result to a question about someone having a contact in their household. Each situation is a little different, and requires outreach from our staff.”
COVID cases were on the rise as the semester was about to begin. Shepherd decided to follow CDC guidelines about cleaning, masking, and social distancing and decided to require everyone to wear a mask while indoors. Boehler believes the mask requirement has helped keep the level of transmission on campus down.
“Not only does it reduce the transmission from person to person, it is also a reminder we are still in a pandemic,” she said.
Shepherd has been able to have more in-person classes this semester, with 71 percent offering a face-to-face component. Residence hall capacity is back to normal and there are more in-person activities, including sporting events.
Chauncey Winbush, vice president for athletics, said Shepherd follows all NCAA, Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, and campus protocols. He said about 72 percent of approximately 340 student-athletes are vaccinated. Those who aren’t are required to be tested frequently.
“Depending on when a team may be traveling, we will require a test 72 hours or so prior to that trip,” Winbush said. “The NCAA requires that we do either one PCR test or three antigen tests per week per student-athlete. We are using a mixture of both. One week a student might have a PCR test and the following week we might switch to an antigen test.”
While Winbush would like to see all student-athletes vaccinated, he is happy most have taken that step.
“We’re probably at the upper echelon of the percentage of the other institutions across the league,” he said. “There are some that might be in the 80s, but 72 percent is not too shabby at the end of the day.”
So far, COVID has caused a few games to be rescheduled and a few athletes to miss practices, but Winbush said overall, the student-athletes have been good about following protocols.
“I’m really pleased, and not just with this semester,” he said. “You can go back to spring of 2020 and the cancellation of spring sports at that time and last fall we didn’t have fall or winter sports. We were able to provide some competitions in the spring of 2021.
“Our students have been understanding,” he said. “They have been patient and have done a good job. They’re happy to be back and competing. I think they’re doing the best that they can to make sure that they are staying safe so that we can continue to compete through the entire semester.”
Jack Shaw, associate vice president for campus services, calls the 75 percent vaccination rate for resident students a significant accomplishment. Students moving into residence halls were screened and directed to register their vaccination status during the check-in process.
“This has reduced the disruption to student lives and academic progress and has eased the burden of facilities and residence life because vaccinated students are not required to quarantine as often as unvaccinated students,” Shaw said.
“We mandate masks inside of all residential buildings until residents are in their personal space,” he said. “We are still vigilant in our cleaning regimens that are executed daily by our facilities staff. Students have been very cooperative and the residence life and facilities teams are to be commended on the successful response to COVID on Shepherd’s campus.”
Frye said the health task force continues to make decisions aimed at protecting the health and well-being of the students, employees, and community by following science.
“Every time we meet, we discuss every area of the university,” Frye said. “We look at the research. We look at what is happening in the local area, our state, and states around us.”
As the COVID landscape has evolved, so have task force decisions. The most current information, along with a dashboard showing vaccination, infection, and exposure rates, is available on Shepherd’s Fall 2021 COVID-19 webpage.
Interview with Holly Morgan Frye is available here.
Interview with Chauncey Winbush is available here.
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