DePaul has made over 400 COVID-19 vaccine exemptions, concerning some students despite low case numbers.
During a Q&A segment at a DePaul town hall meeting held on August 18, associate provost Caryn Chaden announced that the school has made over 400 exceptions to the vaccine mandate for students, which went into effect on August 20. In a faculty council meeting, these numbers were updated, as The DePaulia reported. The exceptions were awarded based on Illinois law allowing for immunization exemptions based on pregnancy, medical concerns and religious convictions.
Chaden said that over 18,000 students had submitted their vaccination records, including the exemptions.
Overall, reported COVID-19 cases at DePaul remain low. The university’s case tracker recorded just 57 cases among students since classes resumed on September 8 — about .25 percent of the total population of students if we assume the student population has stayed similar from last year, according to Chaden. However, with COVID-19 cases rising across Chicago, some students remain worried despite this small number.
“I am uncomfortable,” said Marco, a fifth year student at DePaul. “Especially with classes being in person. One of my classes has 30 people and 30 seats, so there’s no social distancing, and I’m not sure if one of these 400 individuals is in that class.”
Marco is not alone. Other students shared their worry that DePaul is not 100 percent vaccinated.
“I feel that communication is key, especially within a student body,” said Meredith Bach, a freshman at DePaul. “I think it would just be morally the best option to communicate to the student body that there are people that are unvaccinated.”
DePaul’s Access to and Responsible Use of Data Policy restricts how information such as vaccination status is shared with the campus community, as does HIPAA and FERPA.
In an interview with Radio DePaul News, Cheryl Hover, DePaul’s associate director of emergency management, responded to students’ concerns about their unvaccianted peers. Hover has been monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic at DePaul since late 2019.
“I wouldn’t think about ‘Oh, no, 400 students’ as being… the people to be worried about, because you can get it really anywhere,” Hover said. “Instead of worrying about that very small subset, keep doing the things that make a difference wearing a mask [and] washing your hands … We know that it’s mostly transmitted by that person-to-person interaction, typically when you’re not wearing a mask, when you’re in an enclosed setting.”
Masks are required indoors at all DePaul buildings. Additionally, under Governor J.B. Prizker’s executive order mandating vaccinations for education workers, DePaul expanded its requirement to encompass all faculty, staff, volunteers and vendors employed by the university.
Though these safeguards help protect the campus community, they fall short of easing all student worries.
As freshman Meredith Cline said, “[The fact that] there are still a handful of people who can get everyone sick is still a little weary to think about.”
Header graphic and photo by Josephine Stratman