GV COVID-19 campus data update

The Grand Valley State University community has had a cumulative total of 7,380 cases since Aug. 1, 2020. The university’s update for this brief was from Friday, April 8.

Through testing results this past week, GVSU’s Virus Action team have so far reported 31 current active cases including three faculty members, four staff members, six on-campus students, 12 “off-campus Ottawa” students, five “off-campus Kent” students and one “off-campus other” student with active COVID-19 cases.

“Current active cases” is the count of positive cases reported to the Virus Action Team over the past 10 days.  This is an estimate of those currently in isolation, assuming a 10-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.

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, barring a medical or religious exemption or postponement. According to the COVID-19 data dashboard, an 80% vaccination rate in the GVSU community is required to reach herd immunity and minimal virus transmission.

Currently, approximately 87% of students report being fully vaccinated, while approximately 93% of faculty and staff reports being fully vaccinated.

There are currently 2,214 students and 139 faculty/staff with approved vaccination exemptions.

Testing and Incidence: GVSU’s own testing program has performed 131,317 tests overall since Aug. 1, 2020, for a cumulative positivity rate of 2.49% from the latest update as of last week. A total of 562 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.

GV Vice President for University Relations to retire in June

Grand Valley State University President Philomena Mantella recently announced that Vice President for University Relations and Secretary to the Board of Trustees, Matthew E. McLogan, will retire this June. 

McLogan was initially hired in 1987 as the vice president by previous President Arend D. Lubbers, making him the longest continuously serving executive officer in GVSU’s history. 

McLogan led a career in broadcast journalism throughout the 1970s and was the Michigan Public Service Commissioner in the 1980s. 

In the beginning of his career at GVSU, McLogan oversaw government relations, university development and alumni relations. He also looked over the communications team and GVSU’s public radio and television statements. 

McLogan currently leads Institutional Marketing, government relations, university communications and WGVU Public Media. He has also been the secretary to the Board of Trustees since 2019. 

McLogan’s successor will be announced in the week of April 11 and his last day will be June 30.