On Aug. 6, 2021, 10 days before NC State was set to start the fall semester, an email from the university went out to all faculty, staff and students. Its subject line was blunt: \u201cGet vaccinated or get tested weekly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That requirement meant that Student Health Services went to work on the next phase of its almost two-year effort in battling the spread of COVID-19 on campus. Nurses, immunization staff and others started checking the vaccination cards that were uploaded to the online portal to confirm an individual\u2019s vaccination status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some records had trickled in over the summer and had been checked as they came in. But that still left some 20,000 to check, which the staff completed in about six weeks. And these weren\u2019t cursory glances. Dr. Julie Casani, director and medical director of NC State\u2019s Student Health Services, says her staff looked at every detail, including the person\u2019s name, date of birth, which vaccine they got, the dates of the doses and where it was administered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If there was an anomaly, such as a card missing the date of birth, Student Health Services staff reached out to the person to get clarity. Sometimes a record required more legwork. \u201cWe were looking at documents from China,\u201d says Casani. \u201cWe were looking at documents from India, which were in multiple languages. The [European Union] has this specific document. We were looking at that, and that\u2019s usually in two languages, English and the country of origin of the person. . . .\u2009Some of us learned how to read Sinopharm and Sinovac, which are the Chinese vaccines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Casani says they didn\u2019t find many fake cards. Having that extra layer of assurance the uploaded cards provided was something Casani and her staff committed to early on. (Some universities only required an attestation from an individual that they\u2019d been vaccinated, rather than proof.) The process, Casani says, was key in seeing that NC State\u2019s campus enjoyed a somewhat normal fall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s how many total staff it took to pull off that record-checking feat. A staff member could do about five vaccination cards an hour, given all the information they had to check.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The weekly average of COVID-19 tests administered on campus during the fall semester. That\u2019s down from 11,000 a week last spring. The reason? More people were vaccinated, so fewer tests were needed.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The daily number of vaccinations Student Health Services was giving at the height of vaccination efforts on campus this fall.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The portion of the campus community, including staff, faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, who either were vaccinated on campus or submitted their vaccination records to the HealthyPack portal, as of Dec. 1 2021. This was up from 45 percent last summer.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou convince, you convince, you cajole. You educate. And then eventually, if you think it\u2019s important enough, you do a carrot-stick kind of thing. And you give alternatives,\u201d Casani says. \u201cSo we gave alternatives with testing. And people started getting tired of getting tested every week. So they said, \u2018What the heck, I\u2019ll go get the shot.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n
On Aug. 6, 2021, 10 days before NC State was set to start the fall semester, an email from the university went out to all faculty, staff and students. Its subject line was blunt: \u201cGet vaccinated or get tested weekly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That requirement meant that Student Health Services went to work on the next phase of its almost two-year effort in battling the spread of COVID-19 on campus. Nurses, immunization staff and others started checking the vaccination cards that were uploaded to the online portal to confirm an individual\u2019s vaccination status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some records had trickled in over the summer and had been checked as they came in. But that still left some 20,000 to check, which the staff completed in about six weeks. And these weren\u2019t cursory glances. Dr. Julie Casani, director and medical director of NC State\u2019s Student Health Services, says her staff looked at every detail, including the person\u2019s name, date of birth, which vaccine they got, the dates of the doses and where it was administered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If there was an anomaly, such as a card missing the date of birth, Student Health Services staff reached out to the person to get clarity. Sometimes a record required more legwork. \u201cWe were looking at documents from China,\u201d says Casani. \u201cWe were looking at documents from India, which were in multiple languages. The [European Union] has this specific document. We were looking at that, and that\u2019s usually in two languages, English and the country of origin of the person. . . .\u2009Some of us learned how to read Sinopharm and Sinovac, which are the Chinese vaccines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Casani says they didn\u2019t find many fake cards. Having that extra layer of assurance the uploaded cards provided was something Casani and her staff committed to early on. (Some universities only required an attestation from an individual that they\u2019d been vaccinated, rather than proof.) The process, Casani says, was key in seeing that NC State\u2019s campus enjoyed a somewhat normal fall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s how many total staff it took to pull off that record-checking feat. A staff member could do about five vaccination cards an hour, given all the information they had to check.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The weekly average of COVID-19 tests administered on campus during the fall semester. That\u2019s down from 11,000 a week last spring. The reason? More people were vaccinated, so fewer tests were needed.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n