William & Mary announced Monday that it is reconsidering returning to “more regular operations” for the fall semester based on current vaccination rates for students and staff.
Currently, the school has verified 5,480 students (56.2%) are fully vaccinated and 2,118 (72.2%) employees are fully vaccinated.
“The current vaccination rates are well below where we expected them to be based on prior surveys and where we need them to be,” wrote W&M in the message that went out to the university community.
The message said unless the college is able to see a “significant increase” in vaccination rates, they plan to reinstate COVID-19 mitigation measures, such as limitations on social gatherings, reinstating universal masking requirements regardless of vaccination status and/or mandatory vaccinations before the start of the fall semester.
Suzanne Clavet, spokeswoman for W&M, said they will provide updates in the next week based on the most current information.
“The pandemic is a fluid situation. Protecting public health within the William & Mary and surrounding communities remains a top priority. Our planning must be necessarily flexible and will, as it has over the last 18 months, and will evolve as the data and science continue to evolve,” said Clavet.
W&M encouraged students and employees who have been vaccinated or started the process to report it through the Kallaco portal by 5 p.m. Wednesday. Reporting through the portal requires students and employees to upload a copy of their vaccination card.
They also emphasized to the community to get vaccinated, if they had not already done so.
W&M stated that this update was driven by the lack of self-reported W&M vaccine data and the national surge in COVID-19 cases.
“William & Mary has no higher hope than that our current numbers reflect a lack of reporting more than a lack of vaccination in the community. … The data we receive in the next two days are critical to that planning process and will inform decisions we need to make now for the semester that starts next month,” W&M wrote.
Clavet said that the Public Health Advisory and COVID Response teams will evaluate vaccination rates in combination with case rates, speed of spread, hospitalizations and other public health indicators to determine what, if any, protocols and policies are necessary for full in-person operations this fall.
Previously, W&M had announced July 16 that they anticipated to return to largely normal operations with no social distancing requirements and weekly mandated COVID-19 testing only for unvaccinated students and employees.
The initial deadline for students and staff to report their vaccination status was July 15. Current vaccination numbers reflect those who have reported by that deadline and those who reported after, which have been verified by W&M.
W&M encouraged students and staff to each do their part to keep the community healthy.
First year and transfer students will begin moving into campus starting Aug. 26 for the fall semester. Upperclassmen will move in starting Aug. 28.
Abigail Adcox, abigail.adcox@virginiamedia.com, 757-264-8149
