GV COVID-19 campus data update

The GVSU community has had a cumulative total of 3,561 cases since Aug. 1, 2020. The university’s update for this brief was from Friday, Sept. 10.

Through testing results this past week, GVSU’s Virus Action team have so far reported 86 current active cases including two faculty members, six staff members, five on-campus students, 42 “off-campus Ottawa” students, 28 “off-campus Kent” students and three “off-campus other” students with active COVID-19 cases.

“Current active cases” is the count of positive cases reported to the Virus Action Team over the past ten days.  This is an estimate of those currently in isolation, assuming a ten-day symptomatic period following the reporting of a positive test result. Actual periods of isolation are specific to the individual and determined by the county health department.

Testing and Incidence: GVSU’s own testing program has performed 92,531 tests overall since August 1, 2020, for a cumulative positivity rate of 1.13% from the latest update as of last week. A total of 1,510 tests were performed over the last seven days.

“GV Surveillance” includes the GV/Spectrum administered programs of randomized testing, regular testing of high-risk groups, and invited testing of individuals connected to potential clusters. A calendar is available. “GV Total” includes surveillance testing plus all symptomatic/exposure tests administered by Spectrum.

Vaccination: GVSU encourages all students, faculty and staff to receive the COVID-19 vaccination as soon as possible. All students, faculty and staff are required to be fully vaccinated by Sept.30, barring a medical or religious exemption or postponement. According to the COVID-19 data dashboard, 80% vaccination rate in the GVSU community is required to reach herd immunity and minimal virus transmission.

Currently, approximately 63% of students report being fully vaccinated, while approximately 87% of faculty and staff reports being fully vaccinated.

Virus Action Team shares vaccination update

In an update posted on Sept. 9, the Virus Action Team (VAT) said approximately 4,000 members of the GVSU community have not indicated their vaccination status in their online self-assessment. The deadline for students, faculty and staff to be fully vaccinated is Sept. 30, and the deadline to apply for a religious or medical exemption or postponement is Sept. 15.

GV named ‘Best Bang For Your Buck’ among Midwest institutions

GVSU has been named one of the “Best Bang for Your Buck” among schools in the Midwest by Washington Monthly. This is the sixth consecutive year that GVSU has received the designation.

Criteria for the ranking is based on the degree to which higher education institutions “recruit and graduate students of modest means, produce the scholarship and scholars that drive economic growth and human flourishing, and encourage students to be active citizens and serve their country.” The Monthly says these criteria align with the new funding priorities of Congress and the Biden administration.