GENEVIEVE PFISTER, Staff Writer—
With the vast majority of the Denison campus community fully vaccinated, community members are adapting to a new set of modified COVID-19 restrictions: Some are more relaxed, but some remain in place in response to the delta variant.
Plexiglass barriers have been taken down from many tables in dining halls, as have the laminated cards marking whether a table needs to be sanitized. Fully-vaccinated students are now able to dispense their own condiments, use toasters, and serve themselves from salad bars in Huffman and Curtis. Students are also free to travel off-campus and masks are no longer required in some areas of campus as of an August email from President Adam Weinberg that welcomed students back.
However, students are still required to wear masks in “academic buildings, workspaces, and meetings” and should continue to “monitor symptoms closely” and report any symptoms to the Wellness Center, according to a Sept. 22 Community Update email from President Weinberg. The email also asked that students refrain from bringing unvaccinated guests to campus, and that students be “thoughtful” in their hosting of events and meetings, some of which have been able to resume in person. Additionally, while some events have been cancelled, Big Red Weekend was able to be held this past weekend, welcoming families to campus with a host of outdoor events and performances from students.
For sophomore Ali Imran, the biggest differences this semester have been this switch back to in-person meetings and interactions between students and faculty. “From student organisations to classes to other spaces/ meetings, so much has transitioned to in-person from Zoom, which is a very welcome change, because we are not built for Zoom interactions,” Imran said. He also emphasized that these interactions seemed much more free and open than last year, saying, “There is not a lot of fear around COVID-19 that I [have seen recently].”
On-campus testing is still available for symptomatic individuals and close contacts of students who have tested positive for COVID-19. In light of cold, flu and allergy season triggering a spread of illness and causing COVID-like symptoms on campus, the Wellness Center also recently announced walk-in hours for COVID-19 testing. These hours are 8:30 to 9:30 A.M. and 5:00 to 7:00 P.M. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays; and 11:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. on Saturdays and Sundays. Symptomatic students can report to the Wellness Center tent during any of these scheduled times without an appointment and request a test. For more information, contact the Wellness Center at [email protected] or 740-587-6200.