COVID-19 Update from the UMass Public Health Promotion Center: March 17

In an email to the campus community, Ann Becker and Jeffrey Hescock, co-directors of the Public Health Promotion Center (PHPC), described a continued decline in the campus COVID-19 positivity rate and the resumption of a vaccine clinic next week.

That email is as follows:

Dear Campus Community,

We continue to monitor COVID-19 trends in our community through our symptomatic, adaptive and voluntary testing program as well as wastewater surveillance. The latest COVID-19 testing data for the UMass community for March 9-15 shows 40 new positive cases. The university’s positivity rate is 1.38%, compared to last week’s rate of 1.45%. The state’s seven-day positivity rate is 1.53%. Individuals testing positive continue to report they are experiencing minimal to moderate symptoms of infection.

Vaccine clinics will resume next week and are offered on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Thursdays from 1 to 4 p.m. until April 30. Walk-ins will be accepted, but we encourage everyone to book an appointment.

Please continue to monitor yourself for COVID-19 symptoms every day before coming to campus. If you feel unwell, stay home and get tested. University Health Services has symptomatic testing available for students, or, if you have an unobserved test kit on hand you can drop it off at one of the campus kiosks.

KN95 masks will remain available for free at the Public Health Promotion Center (PHPC) in the Campus Center, and as a community we encourage everyone to respect the choices that individuals will make about their own masking. 

Thank you for all that you’re doing — staying home when sick, testing when you have symptoms, and supporting each other as part of our community.

Sincerely,
 

Co-Directors of the Public Health Promotion Center (PHPC)

Ann Becker, Public Health Director
Jeffrey Hescock, Executive Director of Environmental Health and Safety