COVID-19 cases remained low during spring semester

One off-campus student tested positive for COVID-19 on April 17. Two residential College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) students have also tested positive as of April 12. 

The two residential students had close contact with each other, though no other close contacts were identified. The off-campus student had no close contacts. These cases are the first since March 11, ending a month without positive cases on campus. All effluent testing has come back negative since February. 

There have been 15 cases with campus impact since the beginning of the semester, 11 of which were identified through Lewis & Clark testing clinics. With 5,862 tests conducted since January, the on-campus positivity rate for the spring semester is 0.19%, compared to 0.22% for Fall 2020.  

This is lower than the Multnomah County positivity rate of 3.9%. The county is currently classified as high risk for the virus, though 38.2% of county residents have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. There is no data available for the vaccination status of students, faculty and staff.

Other on-campus COVID-19 updates include: 

Testing clinics: LC held the last standard weekly testing clinic on April 20. The following week, the college will hold an optional exit-testing clinic on April 30 before students depart at the end of the semester. Testing is highly recommended for students not yet fully vaccinated and traveling.

For students who need official documentation of a negative test before travel, tests will cost between $65 and $100 depending on how quickly the student needs their results. For students who do not need official documentation and just want to know their positivity status, tests will cost $35 and should be available by the end of the day on May 3. 

The Associated Students of Lewis & Clark’s Student Resource Committee has allocated funds to cover up to 50% of the cost of some of the clinic’s out-of-pocket COVID-19 tests. Undergraduate students who cannot afford the cost should apply for funding before May 7.

On-campus vaccination unlikely: LC was originally planning to hold a vaccine clinic on April 10 for employees, but it was canceled after an outside supplier could not provide doses as promised. If the college could secure vaccines from the county before the end of the semester, they were planning to hold a clinic for everyone who was eligible. Due to the end of the semester approaching, LC had requested the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration  and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended a pause of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on April 13. According to an email sent by Associate Dean of Students for Health and Wellness John Hancock, this pause makes it “extremely unlikely” for an on-campus clinic to take place unless recommendations change. The college encourages students who are eligible to receive vaccination off campus in the meantime.

This announcement comes after several reports of unusual blood clotting post-vaccination for both the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines, which both use non-replicating vaccine vectors to build immunity against the virus. The current known risk of developing this symptom is drastically less than 1%, though more research is being conducted.