Dear Campus Community,
In Emergency Medicine, there is great superstition around the word “quiet.” The irrational rationale is that if one acknowledges that there are very few patients at any given time, we will be overrun with critically ill patients. If we follow that logic, I might advise you to avoid looking at the Allegheny College COVID-19 dashboard this week. However, superstitions are based on the belief that events are outside of our control, and I have confidence in our campus community’s ability to control the spread of the virus. Therefore, I write it proudly: COVID-19 has been quiet on our campus! Credit goes to the Allegheny College students and employees who work hard and sacrifice comforts to make safety a priority. Thank you for keeping us together, in person, safely. Thank you, families and parents, for supporting our community during this difficult academic year.
In other news, President Biden recently encouraged states to make vaccines available to all adults by May. I continue to lobby Meadville Medical Center to vaccinate our students and am hopeful this opportunity will arise. In the meantime, if you can get the COVID-19 vaccine on your own, I recommend that you accept it. Being vaccinated decreases the risk of serious illness and death if a vaccinated person contracts COVID-19. It also means fewer travel restrictions, less frequent testing, and less likelihood of quarantine. Also, students who are vaccinated are welcome to volunteer or work in the local community. Please make sure that ACHA has your completed vaccine card on record by uploading it here.
On the wall of my office, I tape up cheerful memes. One shows a man with his hair sticking up and his eyes crossed, with the caption, “frontline provider trying to figure out the 35th policy change in one week.” With that caveat, please see the updated travel policy on our website.
Chin up. We are doing this.
Be well,
Dr. Morrow