January 22, 2021
Dear RVU Family:
Positive cases of COVID-19 have increased nationwide, with COVID related deaths reaching a very somber milestone of hitting the 400,000 mark. Recent data from Johns Hopkins University reflected almost 4,400 deaths nationwide on Wednesday, the second-most to date (surpassed only by 4,600 deaths on January 12). Since the inception of the pandemic, approximately 24.7 million cases and 407,200 related deaths have been reported in the U.S. Positive cases in CO have increased nearly 4% and close to 6% in Utah. RVU has had 4 new positive cases including 1 pre-clinical student and 3 clinical students. There were no new positive cases among employees last week. The running total of positive RVU cases is 90 (6.77% infection rate) for students and 18 (5.96% infection rate) for employees.
Updates for this week are as follows:
- CRT Town Hall: To ensure our RVU community is kept informed, the COVID Response Team will host its next Town Hall on Friday, February 5 at noon.
- Communicable Disease Policy Update: The policy has been updated and is available for review on the university’s COVID-19 webpage and can be found here. Please review this document as it contains important instruction on who is to be notified in the event of exposure to a communicable disease or if you are symptomatic.
- Vaccine Updates:
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- The Rocky Vista Health Center has been approved to administer the COVID vaccine, but has not received its first shipment yet. Additional information will be shared with you and posted on the RVHC website as soon as it becomes available.
- As of yesterday, 85% of third year medical students have been vaccinated. The CRT is starting discussions regarding vaccines for all students and employees as well as the safe return to campus. Additional information will be forthcoming.
MYTH: The COVID-19 vaccine can change my DNA
FACT: The vaccines cannot change your DNA. Both Pfizer and Moderna use mRNA to instruct your body to build the coronavirus’ spike protein. Your body then produces antibodies to combat the coronavirus when it encounters it later. mRNA is very fragile, and it’s very quickly degraded once inside the body.
Thank you for your ongoing patience and loyalty during these challenging times. Please continue to remain extra vigilant and do your part to ensure your personal safety as well as others around you. Together we remain RVU Strong!
Professionally yours,
COVID-19 Response Team
