University leaders share vaccine updates at Employee Forum
The University continues to encourage vaccination and mask-wearing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the campus community.
Carolina leaders shared updates on COVID-19 testing and vaccination rates at Wednesday’s virtual monthly Employee Forum meeting.
While Carolina welcomed students back to campus this fall, including its largest and most diverse class of first-years, and many employees returned to in-person work on campus, the University continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz acknowledged the strain on employees as they returned and thanked them for continuing to help the University carry out its mission.
“We’ve said from the beginning that this not going to be easy. I know there’s a lot of anxiety and fear around the delta variant,” Guskiewicz said. “We recognize that many of you are working under those conditions with that anxiety. We’re grateful for what you’re doing and trying to help us carry this out while keeping our campus safe.”
Ninety percent of Carolina’s students have attested to being vaccinated, which meets the University’s target, Guskiewicz said.
The University is calculating the percentage of vaccinated students based on the total student body population attending classes on campus, rather than just the number of students who responded to the request for attestation, Provost Robert A. Blouin said.
Carolina is conducting weekly audits of student vaccination attestations, with high rates of authenticity, from 95-99%, Blouin said. Attestations are checked with the state’s department of health and human services database. In some cases, such as for out-of-state students, verification is more difficult.
“We know the vaccine protects against serious illness, and that there are fewer symptoms for a shorter period of time,” Guskiewicz said. “We’ve got to remain vigilant in encouraging vaccination and mask-wearing among all of our campus community members.”
Becci Menghini, vice chancellor for human resources and equal opportunity and compliance, reported that the University was working to update the employee vaccination registration rate. [Editor’s note: The work was completed this week; 87% of employees have attested they have been vaccinated. Find the latest percentages on the Carolina Together homepage.]
Menghini noted that the employee vaccination data collected by EHS stays in EHS and is not shared with human resources.
Guskiewicz said that there will be COVID-19 cases on campus. “We know we will have cases on campus, and we will continue to keep the community apprised when we identify clusters.”
Currently, the number of cases on campus is close to what Carolina’s experts predicted, Guskiewicz said, adding that ample quarantine and isolation space is available. He added that he and other campus leaders receive daily updates on the COVID-19 situation, and they continue to meet regularly with experts on campus.
The University recently updated its policy requiring professors to wear masks when teaching in the classroom. Blouin added that the University is not seeing any transmission of the virus in the classroom or dining halls. Three new canopies will be added to reduce the number of people in Lenoir Hall.
Blouin shared that UNC Health is opening a facility in Meadowmont to provide a monoclonal antibody treatment regimen for COVID-19 for those who may have complications from diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity or be immunosuppressed. He encouraged employees to tell anyone who has COVID-19 that this treatment is available and to talk to their doctor.
In other business:
Open enrollment for employee benefits is set for Oct. 11-29, Tarron Brandon, senior benefits consultant, said. All employees will default to the 70/30 PPO plan unless they take action to make other choices during the enrollment period.
Forum delegates approved a resolution calling for the removal the “20% rule” that requires approval from the UNC System Office of SHRA salary raises greater than 20%. The resolution also calls for better alignment of the pay policies.
Keith Hines and James Holman were elected to represent Carolina by serving as UNC System Staff Assembly delegates and Laura Pratt will serve as an alternate.
