Dec. 3, 2021 – COVID updates

Posted by on Friday, December 3, 2021 in Community Messages.

Dear Vanderbilt community,

I want to take a moment to thank you for your hard work up to this point in following our campus protocols. Without everyone stepping up, we would not have the low number of COVID infections that we have had throughout the pandemic.

I also understand there are many questions as new variants and regulations make headlines.

As we near winter break, please know that we are continuing to monitor these developments in the interest of protecting the health and safety of our community.

I encourage all members of our campus community to continue making safety a priority as you leave campus to travel, spend time with family or friends or just recharge before the start of the spring semester.

This time away from campus does not diminish the importance of keeping ourselves and others as safe as possible, especially as we learn more about the new omicron variant.

Please be safe while traveling and get tested if you feel sick. Remember to get your COVID booster shot and flu shot as you prepare to be around others outside of our campus community later this month.

I encourage you to watch the below Ask an Expert video with our own Thomas R. Talbot, a recognized expert in the field of health care epidemiology and infection control, to learn more about what we currently know about the omicron variant and what each of us should be doing to help keep ourselves and others safe.

The landscape of this virus is constantly shifting, and we continue to work with our public health experts at VUMC to make decisions based on science that are best for our campus community.

We are assessing a recent federal court ruling and related action by the Tennessee state government to determine what changes to our current protocols may be appropriate in light of these developments. We will announce any necessary changes soon and share updates on the Health and Safety Protocols website.

Thank you for your continued work to keep our community as safe as possible.

Eric Kopstain
Vice Chancellor for Administration