Salisbury University President Charles Wight said the university offered to become a distribution site for COVID-19 vaccines, but the request was declined by Wicomico County.
If the university were to become a vaccination distribution site, all students — both in and out-of-state — would become eligible to receive the vaccine at SU, Wight said during his weekly COVID-19 briefing Thursday.
Despite the declined request, Wight still urged campus members to receive their vaccines as soon as made available to them.
“These vaccines are safe and necessary to return to our pre-pandemic way of life,” Wight said.
The state’s two current mass vaccination sites are located at the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center and the former Tuesday Morning store in the Centre at Salisbury, hosted by the Wicomico County Health Department.
Wight also said vaccinated students, faculty and staff will still need to remain in compliance with SU’s weekly COVID-19 testing protocols.
Campus members who have yet to sign up for weekly coronavirus tests may still schedule their appointments for Saturday or Sunday timeslots with limited availability, Wight said.
Gull Cards began being disabled for campus members who are not in compliance with the university’s testing protocols on Wednesday, per a recent Stay Informed email. Those individuals have now lost access to campus buildings and dining services that require use of the card.
Cards will be reactivated following a negative test result, Wight said.
SU has caught 16 positive cases of COVID-19 out of 4,870 tests administered since March 11, according to the university’s COVID-19 dashboard. The campus still maintains a positivity rate below 1%.
“I am heartened that our [positivity rate] continues to be so low, even as positivity rates in the state and county remain around 4%,” Wight said.
For more information on SU’s testing protocols or to view the latest university COVID-19 test results, visit https://www.salisbury.edu/coronavirus/testing-info.aspx.
By JAKOB TODD
News editor
Featured image courtesy of WBOC.