Fewer than 25 OSU students unvaccinated
When Ohio State University announced in August that the university would require its campus community to get a COVID-19 vaccine, it came with a hefty ultimatum for students: Get vaccinated or you won’t be able to live on campus spring semester.
As of Thursday, the last day of final exams, fewer than 25 students currently living in residence halls on all OSU campuses will be affected, said university spokesman Ben Johnson.
“As spring semester approaches, the university will be reaching out to those students and others who are in progress to full compliance,” he said.
The vaccine mandate required OSU students, staff and faculty members to be fully vaccinated or have a universityapproved exemption by Nov. 15.
Students who refused to get vaccinated and did not receive an exemption will not be allowed to live on campus or participate in on-campus activities beginning spring semester, meaning they will have to enroll in online courses. Unvaccinated students will not be disenrolled from the university.
By the Nov. 15 deadline, 92% of Ohio
State’s campus community had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Now, more than 98% of students and employees – more than 102,000 individuals in all – have submitted proof of vaccination or an exemption request.
That’s about 60,300 students who’ve received at least one vaccine dose, and about 4,000 students who received an exemption from the policy.
“The small number of individuals who have not includes students who
“The small number of individuals who have not includes students who graduate on Sunday, employees who are on medical leave and other unique cases.” Ben Johnson
OSU spokesman
the omicron variant compromises the effects of a two-dose vaccine, but boosters are a successful tool to quell the latest, fast-spreading COVID-19 threat.
“At this point, there is no need for a variant-specific booster,” Fauci said at a press briefing.
Stow-munroe Falls High School canceled two days of midterms next week because so many students and staff are testing positive.
The Cleveland Browns reported 18 players and several coaches on the NFL’S COVID list, including quarterback Baker Mayfield and Coach Kevin Stefanski, who told the media he’s received a vaccine booster. Most will likely miss Saturday’s game.
Some Norton and Hudson school basketball teams have stopped all activities. Cleveland State canceled its next two men’s basketball games – including a game at Kent State on Dec. 21 – due to an outbreak.
Playhouse Square canceled two performances, while the Ohio Shakespeare Festival in Akron canceled its final four shows of “Cinderella” due to breakthrough infections among its fully vaccinated cast.
Akron’s four hospital systems on Wednesday did report 22 fewer coronavirus patients a day after nearly breaking a year-old record of 318 COVID patients that was set months before vaccines were widely available. The total number Wednesday for Summa Health, Akron General, Western Reserve Hospital in Cuyahoga Falls and Akron Children’s Hospital was 294, down from 316 on Tuesday.
Akron General reported 117 patients Wednesday, down from 127 Tuesday. A spokesperson declined to say how much space remains in the refrigerated trailer, which was placed on site in early December. The trailer can hold 25 bodies, while the hospital morgue can hold 11.
“We are seeing many unvaccinated patients with COVID-19 and patients without COVID-19 who are coming to the hospital sicker than normal because of delayed care due to the pandemic,” a hospital statement said.
Health commissioner: Restrictions justified but won’t happen
Summit County Public Health Commissioner Donna Skoda said we’re in the midst of a “perfect storm” of factors contributing to this surge: vaccinated people’s waning immunity after six months; the contagiousness of the delta variant; and no more social restrictions or mask mandates, with people feeling more comfortable hosting large gatherings, unlike this time last year.
On implementing restrictions again, Skoda said, “we’ve been there. It could have easily been justified at this point.”
But she acknowledged that “it’s not gonna happen ever” with the passage of Senate Bill 22, which lets Ohio lawmakers reject or modify any state health order as soon as it’s given and lets the legislature extend or end states of emergencies.
“But there’s also the argument that says we have to learn to live with this somehow, someway,” Skoda said. “And that’s true, but we got to first get it under control.”
Skoda said daily COVID-19 cases for Summit County have doubled in less than a month. She said the number is likely even higher, as some at-home test results aren’t reported.
Skoda also said a combination of staffing shortages and high numbers of hospitalized patients for COVID-19 and other ailments is leading to some patients being boarded in emergency departments.
“We were hoping that what we had seen was Halloween surge and then followed by the Thanksgiving surge, but our cases are still high,” she said. “It’s not dropping at all.”
Skoda noted Summit County hasn’t had any confirmed cases of the omicron variant, which is believed to be more contagious than the delta variant but doesn’t cause as severe an illness.
As of midday Wednesday, Stowmunroe Falls School District, which is still under a mask mandate, was reporting 45 active cases, 28 of which were at the high school.
“We do not see a commonality between the cases that points to a specific classroom or extracurricular activity,” Assistant Superintendent Kristie Prough said.
Less than three hours later, high school principal Jeff Hartmann announced midterms and final exams would be canceled on Monday and Tuesday “due to the high number of COVID positive students and staff and the high number of presumptive positive students and staff.”
Reporters Alan Ashworth, Krista Kano, April Helms, and Phil Keren and USA TODAY contributed to this report.