Update regarding COVID-19 from President Houston Davis to incoming and returning students
We look forward to an exciting start to our fall semester as we return to campus traditions and activities. We plan for classroom instruction to return to normal in-person occupancy, though many online and hybrid courses will also continue to be offered this fall. With Welcome Week, athletic events, and many other student gatherings being planned, we are committed to bringing back a robust campus life that allows students to grow and thrive, connect with peers, and succeed in the classroom.
As we return for the fall academic semester, we continue to stress the importance of vaccination and mask-wearing on campus. The only way for campus to effectively prevent the spread of COVID-19 during the academic semester is for our community to pair high vaccination rates with masking in indoor settings when groups are gathered.
UCA students and employees have free and convenient access to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine through UCA’s Student Health Clinic. A few things to know about the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine:
- It takes five weeks to be fully protected by the BioNTech Pfizer vaccine. You do not have to wait for classes to begin to be vaccinated. If you have not already, consider starting the vaccination process now through a local provider, or you can visit UCA’s Student Health Clinic anytime before or after classes begin. Other vaccines, such as Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, are also available through local providers.
- Once a person is fully vaccinated, mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna are highly effective at preventing serious illness and hospitalization.
We are continuing to monitor the developments surrounding the court challenges to the Arkansas law banning mask mandates. In the interim, we will continue to encourage all employees and students to follow the CDC recommendation that individuals wear a face covering while indoors, regardless of vaccination status. Students may receive a free face covering by visiting room 206 in the Student Center from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
To encourage information sharing regarding COVID-19, the campus has launched a social media campaign called #BearsVax. Individuals are encouraged to share their stories through video, photos, graphics and more, and use the hashtag #BearsVax. Students can access a toolkit with sample graphics, testimonials, myths, and facts to get started.
An additional resource is our COVID-19 website, which has been updated to better reflect campus priorities and provide relevant insights to our operations and strategies. In addition to vaccine availability and the encouragement of indoor masking, we continue to focus on the following:
- Free and fast COVID-19 testing for the UCA community and continuation of our tracing protocol and Testing & Tracing Consortium in partnership with Conway Regional Health System and local universities.
- Availability of quarantine and isolation housing, as well as appropriate support services, for any student that needs on-campus housing during a quarantine or isolation period.
- Preparing classrooms and common spaces for normal occupancy, with contingency plans for some periods of limited remote instruction if necessary.
Maintaining a stable and safe environment this fall requires all of us working together, and we encourage you to adopt the preventative measures we have outlined in this email. Be on the lookout for future emails, as we plan to communicate with campus regularly regarding our COVID-19 safety measures and operations.