Photo Credit: Courtesy of University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Published April 1, 2021
By Makenzie Jones [The Tennessee Conservative contributor] –
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is providing Covid-19 vaccines to eligible students and employees as clinics become available from state approval of university requests.
Those who meet current eligibility standards can schedule and appointment on the Enrollment Management and Student Affairs section of the UTC website, and those who are not yet eligible may sign up for the no-waste list.
The University Health Services releases information through emails as soon as possible for UTC members to stay up to date on the opportunities for testing and vaccinations.
UHS can request vaccines once a week based on how many doses it estimates it can give in 10 days. State and local health departments have the ultimate say in the quantity supplied and the manufacturer it comes from. So far, UTC has administered the Moderna vaccine, and each new sign up will specify which vaccine is available at the time.
Christine Smith, Chief Health Affairs Officer says there has been much more demand for vaccines than the university has had available doses and hopes that when the age limit is lowered to 16 many more will take advantage of the opportunity, whether it be on campus or at another local provider.
She says, “To return to a normal campus life, we have to get vaccinated and continue to follow the guidance of the CDC, the Tennessee Department of Health, and our local health department.”
Freshman student Emma Russum also commented on the hopes of getting more students vaccinated and a more normal schedule in the Fall, stating that Freshmen have not been able to get a true feel for the college experience.
She “thought that it was really convenient that the vaccine was available on campus. The process of getting it was very smooth, and they seemed organized.”
The no-waste list is available to any UTC member, regardless of eligibility phase. If doses are left at the end of a clinic, people on this list will be notified to come to the clinic at that time.
The clinic is currently available only to UTC faculty, staff, and students with their UTC ID as documentation. Updated information on the clinic is available online.
The UTC Covid-19 dashboard is updated Monday through Friday.
As of Monday, March 29, there are nine open cases in students and two open cases in faculty/staff. Thirty-three and one are in quarantine, respectively.
Hamilton County has 42,089 total cases and 429.5 per 100,000 people. Of these, 1,602 are active. Mortality rate for the county is 1.12%. The area falls into the epidemic category, which is the highest level listed by the Chattanooga Regional Response Dashboard. The county has fallen to number six as of March 29 for new daily cases.
As a state, Tennessee had 13,561 active cases as of March 26 with the largest share of cases in the 21-30 age group with 18% share, followed very closely by 31-40, 41-50 each having 15% and 51-60 holding 14%.
Davidson County continues to lead the current county situation for new daily cases. Across the state, numbers have begun to show an overall increase.
