College of Medicine Pandemic Response Friday Round-Up – Week of Sept. 6-10
College of Medicine leaders updated faculty, staff and students on Sept. 10 about the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic:
This Week’s Updates:
Change to Investigational Drug Services Visits
Due to the current surge and number of cases of the delta variant, the Investigational Drug Service (IDS) Pharmacy will be moving back to offering remote-only monitoring visits. The IDS will continue to honor any on-site monitoring visits that are already scheduled. However, going forward, the IDS will not be scheduling any new on-site visits in the pharmacy. Remote monitoring has been shown to be an effective method of oversight and avoids the need to bring external visitors into the IDS Pharmacy, which is a small space. Physical distancing between pharmacy staff and external visitors is difficult.
For the pharmacy portion of the monitoring visit, study monitors will be given access to relevant drug accountability and storage records via our Vestigo investigational drug management system. The IDS will continue to offer appointments via Zoom or other web-based platforms for live interaction at the time of the scheduled appointment.
Flu Vaccines
Registration is open for flu vaccines. Penn State, in partnership with Health Advocate, will provide drive-thru flu vaccine clinics. Sign up today for your vaccination or call 1-800-970-1263 to schedule. All employees (full, part time, etc.) can utilize drive-thru clinics, which will be held at the Hershey campus on:
- Thursday, Sept. 30
- 7 a.m.−2:30 p.m.
- Academic Support Building ─ Side Parking Lot
Employees do not need to be benefit-eligible and do not need to participate in the Penn State health care plan to participate in the free drive-thru clinics. Spouses must be covered under the Penn State health care plan to utilize Penn State’s flu vaccine clinics. See the flu vaccine webpage for the campus schedule.
Additional First-Dose COVID-19 Vaccine Clinics
Due to increased demand, Penn State Health and Penn State College of Medicine have added dates to those previously announced for employees and students to receive their first COVID-19 vaccine doses at Hershey Medical Center, in T2501 and T2502:
- Tuesday, Sept. 14, 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
- Wednesday, Sept. 15, noon-4 p.m.
Schedule an appointment through SignUpGenius.
Testing Students Unvaccinated for COVID-19
For the past several weeks, any student who is not vaccinated for COVID-19 has been required to contact Student Health for their COVID-19 test. This mandatory testing will continue until further notice. Details of testing and the consequences for those not complying can be found in Penn State Today.
If any of these students should become vaccinated (i.e., receive two doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or one shot of Johnson & Johnson, and complete an additional two weeks of testing to become fully vaccinated) throughout the academic year, they can update their vaccination record through myUHS AND by emailing Student Health (student_health@pennstatehealth.psu.edu) to be removed from the testing database.
For those who are unsure about the COVID-19 vaccine process, these questions and answers may be helpful. In addition, students can contact Dr. Carol Freer, a hospitalist and infectious diseases specialist at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, to discuss any concerns. She can be reached at cfreer@pennstatehealth.psu.edu.
Testing Employees Unvaccinated for COVID-19
As shared in Penn State Today, required weekly COVID-19 testing began Sept. 1 for full-time Penn State College of Medicine faculty and staff who have not shared with the University that they are fully vaccinated. Required testing for part-time unvaccinated employees is scheduled to begin later in September.
Unvaccinated full-time employees who are working on campus will receive an email each Wednesday from PSUCOVIDtesting@psu.edu. The email will notify them that they must get tested within seven days and will include specific instructions on how to get tested. All required faculty and staff testing will be conducted using mail-in COVID-19 test kits from Vault Health, a third-party vendor. Email notifications will include a link to order a test kit. All completed tests should be mailed or returned to a campus drop box within 24 hours of completion.
Penn State continues to strongly encourage employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19 as soon as possible.
Employees who receive their vaccine can update their vaccine status in the University’s Salesforce Health Cloud once they have received two shots of either Pfizer or Moderna or one shot of Johnson & Johnson. Weekly testing will continue for an additional two weeks to allow the vaccine to be effective, and then the employee will be released from the weekly testing process.
Employees who are working remotely 100% of the time can be exempted from testing and should complete the Full Remote Employee Form to request an exemption. Employees who need to request a temporary exception to the weekly testing should speak with their unit’s Human Resources strategic partner.
Speaker Seminars
In-person seminars by internal speakers are currently permitted in the College, with adherence to the posted 50% room-capacity guidelines. NO food or drink is permitted in the room during the seminar or class. Seminars by external speakers are still suspended for the remainder of the fall semester, except in those cases deemed mission critical (e.g., faculty recruitment).
Changes to Clinical Research Study Participant Screening Script
The COVID-19 Script for Screening and Informing Study Participants has been updated. The script now has content informing participants that they may come in contact with other participants whose COVID-19 vaccination status is unknown. Additionally, regardless of any changes in hospital visitation policy, research visits are limited to the study participant and essential caregiver and/or parent.
Attend College of Medicine Town Hall Sept. 22
The College-specific, virtual town hall has been rescheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 22 at 4 p.m. Questions can be submitted in advance here. Mark your calendar and use this link to attend.
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