College of Medicine Pandemic Response Friday Round-Up – Week of July 19-23

From left, Dr. Leslie Parent, vice dean for research and graduate studies; Dr. Terry Wolpaw, vice dean of educational affairs; Dr. Charles Lang, associate dean for graduate studies; and Dr. Neal Thomas, associate dean for clinical research.

College of Medicine leaders updated faculty, staff and students on July 23 about the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic:

This Week’s Updates:

Delta variant increase

Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center is seeing an increase in SARS-CoV-2 delta variant cases. Right in the middle of a summer that is looking and feeling much more like normal, news of a rapidly spreading delta variant is unsettling and causing lots of questions. At this time, we are not making any changes to human subjects research. Similarly, the mask mandate and physical distancing guidelines for laboratories and conference rooms, excluding Problem-Based Learning rooms, will be continuing at Penn State College of Medicine until further notice. If you would like to learn more about the delta variant, read more.

Weekly testing for unvaccinated students

Students who have chosen not to get the COVID-19 vaccine or have declined to disclose vaccination status are required to participate in ongoing weekly COVID-19 testing. This testing will remain in place for an indeterminate period of time and any modifications will be based on disease prevalence. Visit the announcement from last week on specifics for Hershey and University Park students.

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