Penn State will start the spring 2022 semester as planned on Jan. 10 with in-person classes and activities, the university announced on Thursday.
University officials had cautioned two weeks ago that it could become necessary for the University Park campus to start the semester remotely, citing increasing COVID-19 transmission and local hospitalizations remaining high, along with the uncertainty created by the more transmissible omicron variant.
But Penn State leadership said on Thursday that, based on advice from its COVID-19 Operations Control Center (COCC), pandemic conditions did not warrant a move to remote to start the semester.
“Our students, faculty and staff have a very high vaccination rate, we are testing weekly those who are not vaccinated and we are continuing to require face masks to be worn indoors,” Penn State President Eric Barron said in a statement. “With these measures in place, together with hospitalization data and what we are learning about omicron, we believe we can safely, but carefully, return to on-campus classes and activities as planned.”
Kelly Wolgast, director of the COCC, encouraged students and employees to order free, mail-in test kits and get tested for COVID-19 before returning to campus.
The White Building will be open for drop-in student test on move-in weekend, Jan. 7-9.
Penn State also is in the process of altering its quarantine and isolation processes to align with the latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which shortened the time people with COVID-19 should isolate to 5 days and if they are asymptomatic or if they are without a fever for 24 hours.
“Our community should be aware of these new CDC guidelines,” Wolgast said, “and I also want to stress that it is very important to continue practicing good hand hygiene, wearing a well-fitting mask and, most importantly, to get vaccinated, including getting your booster shot.”
In Centre County and across Pennsylvania, December will end with the most new COVID-19 cases of any month during the entire pandemic. On Thursday, the commonwealth set a record high for new cases for the second day in a row.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in Centre County this month have been higher than any period of the pandemic, though have been gradually decreasing in the past two weeks. Mount Nittany Medical Center has had 219 COVID-19 patients in December and an average daily census of 57 COVID inpatients, a 17% increase compared to last December.
The surge in cases has caused Mount Nittany to alter some of its operations and caused substantially longer wait times at the emergency department. For about 12 hours between Dec. 2-3, Mount Nittany asked ambulances to divert to other hospitals outside the county because of the overwhelming number of ER patients, a previously unprecedented move for the medical center.
After reaching a pandemic-high 76 COVID-19 inpatients on Dec. 14, the census has slowly fallen, with 43 COVID-19 patient hospitalized on Thursday, still a high number for Centre County’s only hospital, a 260-bed facility.
Statewide, COVID hospitalizations are at their highest since Jan. 13.
Mount Nittany’s chief medical officer cautioned that with the more contagious omicron variant and holiday gatherings continuing, more local hospitalizations are expected.
“The omicron variant is two to three times more transmissible than the Delta variant,” Dr. Upendra Thaker said in a statement earlier on Thursday. “There are also a high number of people who are asymptomatic, or have minimal symptoms, which creates a perfect storm for spreading the virus unknowingly. We do anticipate an even greater increase in cases following the holidays with more hospitalizations to follow.”
Thaker urged community members to get vaccinated and a booster, avoid large gatherings, wear masks and wash their hands.
Last December, Penn State announced that classes for the 2021 spring semester would begin remotely before returning to in-person in February as testing positivity rates, total cases and local hospitalizations climbed.
This year, the university and local community face some similar circumstances, though on campus, with nearly 89.8% of students and 90% of employees vaccinated, case rates have been much lower.
Penn State will continue to require students and employees who have not submitted proof of vaccination to be tested weekly.
The university also extended its indoor mask mandate into the spring semester
