Pitt ‘strongly advising’ its community to fully vaccinate
As cases of COVID-19 and concerns about the delta variant continue to rise in the region, the University of Pittsburgh has outlined its safety measures for the upcoming fall semester.
Pitt is “strongly advising” that everyone in the university’s community, from students to faculty, get fully vaccinated as quickly as possible, Chancellor Patrick Gallagher said in a statement on Friday.
The university will incentivize, offer and promote vaccines with the goal of having everyone on Pitt campuses fully vaccinated, barring those with medical or religious exemptions.
“Vaccines are a game changer,” Mr. Gallagher said in the statement. “They protect individuals from serious illness, cut the risk of transmission and collectively reduce our reliance on global mitigation approaches in favor of targeted containment strategies. This, in turn, minimizes the disruptions to our program and activities while ensuring the safety of everyone on our campuses.”
Though the university’s goal is to have everyone fully vaccinated, officials said there will not be a vaccination mandate to access buildings or programs. Officials said that enforcing such a mandate would not be feasible and that other universities that have announced vaccine mandates are still preparing to accommodate unvaccinated individuals.
Yet officials did say that the university will mandate that everyone from students, faculty, guests and contractors comply with its virus control program. The program’s requirements will depend on individual vaccination status, officials said.
The university will assume that every student, faculty and staff member is unvaccinated until they disclose and provide evidence that they have gotten the shot.
Due to the effectiveness of the vaccine, officials said that mitigation and containment strategies may be relaxed for those who have been fully vaccinated.
Pitt’s COVID-19 Medical
Response Office will work in conjunction with its Healthcare Advisory Group to modify those preventative measures to match the ebb and flow of the virus’ spread.
For those who are not fully vaccinated, or have not disclosed their vaccination status to the university, individuals will be subject to mandatory virus testing — the frequency of which will be determined by the Medical Response Office. Contact tracing to identify personal exposure and quarantine and/or isolation if infected or exposed to infection will also be required.
Students living on campus must present a negative test result before arrival as well.
Failure to comply with these measures may result in disciplinary action, including the loss of access to university buildings and activities, officials said.