COVID-19 final update

By Chris Garrett//

Hood College has yet to decide whether to require students, faculty and staff to be vaccinated against COVID in order to return in the fall.

Hundreds of colleges and universities, including Yale, Georgetown, Stanford, Duke, Brown, Rutgers, Notre Dame and Cornell will require COVID-19 vaccinations this fall.

Hood College spokeswoman Laurie Ward said Hood is reluctant to take that step because the FDA has deemed all COVID-19 vaccines “for emergency use only.” “Until this is FDA approved I don’t know that we can require this inoculation,”  Ward said.

So far 136 faculty and staff and 41 students have reported receiving the shot. Frederick County reports a fully vaccinated population of 35.4% as of May 6.

Many students support vaccine requirement. “I do think that Hood College should require people to get the COVID-19 vaccine if they can,” freshman Faith Kiser said. “I understand that some people have medical or religious reasons that prevent them from receiving the vaccine, but those who are able should take the vaccine to protect those who cannot.”

Junior Jack Wilder agreed. “Hood students should be required to get the vaccine unless they can prove they are allergic to the compound in it,” he said.

The vaccine requirement would make students feel safer, freshman Ashlyn Stearns said. “I think that Hood should require the vaccine for students because it should make me feel a lot safer on campus. It would also let us focus more on our studies than worrying about catching Covid,” she said.

According to a CDC, individuals can start considering themselves fully vaccinated two weeks after they receive their final shot. Once fully vaccinated the CDC has allowances for individuals to meet and for people to gather outdoors without a mask.

“I would feel more comfortable around people who weren’t particularly in my bubble if I knew they had previously received the vaccine, especially if we reach a point where safety measures and limitations are becoming more relaxed,” Kiser said.

For some, vaccination has taken a political edge to it. “I did get the vaccine. I got it because I knew a certain political party would be told and maybe even believes that it’s all a conspiracy against them, or that the vaccine is just unsafe in general,” Wilder said.

Hood College still requires full protection in and out of doors as of this time.

According to the latest data from John Hopkins University, the average number of daily COVID deaths has dropped to below 700 compared to thousands during the beginning of the 2021 year. To date, 573,780 COVID deaths have been reported in the U.S.