College of Medicine Pandemic Response Friday Round-Up – Week of Jan. 18-22
College of Medicine leaders updated faculty, staff and students on Jan. 22 about the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic:
COM Town Hall Recap: Dr. Black and a panel of College experts held a town hall meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 19, to help answer key questions about the COVID-19 vaccine efforts, human resources questions related to COVID as well as research and student-specific questions. Recognizing that not everyone had time to attend, the link to the recording of Tuesday’s session can be found here, and you can visit this dedicated web page for answers to frequently asked questions.
COVID-19 Vaccination Update:
- Sign up to receive vaccine: All faculty, staff and students should have received emails to sign up for the vaccine. The email will be from “covid19vaccine,” and the subject line will read “Important COVID-19 Vaccination Scheduling Information”. We strongly encourage you to take the vaccine while it is available internally to our faculty, staff and students. For more information on the vaccine, please refer to the FAQ document and watch the Jan. 19 town hall recording.
- Side effects from vaccine: Due to the large number of questions on this topic, please refer to the FAQ document and recording of this week’s town hall. Please note it is not necessary to call Occupational Health to report your side effects. The guidance from Occupational Health is to take Tylenol, rest and if additional concerns continue to contact your primary health care provider. If you have been exposed to COVID-19 or are sick with COVID-like symptoms, employees should continue to call Penn State Occupational Health at 814-863-8492 and students should continue to call Student Health at 717-531-5998.
COM Safety Guidelines Remain Unchanged: It is important to note that while the vaccine is very effective in preventing disease and mortality, it is currently unknown whether it decreases viral transmission. Therefore, it is critical that everyone continue to mask and maintain appropriate physical distance.
Attend COVID-19 Vaccine Education Town Hall Jan. 27: Penn State College of Medicine employees and students are invited to attend a special COVID-19 Vaccine Education town hall on Wednesday, Jan. 27, at noon. Faculty from the College of Medicine and the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center – Dr. Leslie Parent, vice dean for research and graduate studies; Dr. Thomas Ma, chair of the Department of Medicine; Dr. Cynthia Whitener, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Hershey Medical Center; and Dr. Umar Farooq, associate chief medical officer for Penn State Health Medical Group Academic Practice Division – will discuss common concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine and answer employee questions.
Staff are invited to submit their questions about the vaccine in advance. Email them to askacovidq@pennstatehealth.psu.edu and include “Vaccine Town Hall” in the subject line. For more information, please see yesterday’s Daily Brief.
In-person Clinical Research Studies Paused: Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Health continue to have a pause on all clinical research studies involving in-person interaction with participants that do not have a direct drug or device therapeutic benefit. We continually monitor the situation and will allow clinical research on human subjects as soon as it is safe.
Required Surveillance Testing for Employees and Students: As announced in Penn State Today, beginning Feb. 15 for employees, the University will conduct random daily surveillance testing of approximately 2% of the University’s on-campus population across all campuses. Random daily surveillance testing is also planned for students starting March 1, and more details will be announced later. Employees and students who are randomly selected to participate in surveillance testing will receive an email indicating they are selected and must complete a COVID-19 test. There are few exceptions.
Return COVID Testing for All Students: Reminder that students are expected to participate in the second part of the COVID-19 testing connected to your return to the educational environment. This second test will be a rapid antigen test, which will be done next Thursday and Friday, Jan. 28 and 29, at the University Conference Center from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. All students should receive an email Monday, Jan. 25, from PSU COVID Testing Program (email address HealthyState@psu.edu) to their accounts with instructions on how to schedule and the link to do so. Please contact your program coordinator with specific questions.
University Fitness Center Reopens Jan. 25: The University Fitness Center (UFC) will reopen at 5 a.m. Monday, Jan. 25. Direct pay memberships will be extended for the length of time the center was closed, from Dec. 11, 2020, to Jan. 24. Payroll deduction for UFC memberships will also reactivate with the initial payment being adjusted to only account for the time the facility is open this month.
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