PLU retires Campus Status Dial, shifts to reporting Washington State vaccination rates
COVID-19 Vaccination Percentages in Washington State
(Data as of 7/21/2021)
On June 30, 2021, Washington state fully reopened, ending more than a year of COVID restrictions. Gov. Jay Inslee also updated the existing emergency order addressing institutions of higher education. The updates clarify the requirements for fully vaccinated campuses and for campuses that are not fully vaccinated. PLU qualifies as a fully vaccinated campus.
As the percentage of people 16+ in Washington State initiating vaccination climbs above 67.9%, all Lute community members are encouraged to get vaccinated as they are able. Check here to locate your closest vaccine appointments in Washington.
On-campus testing
- For students — Testing continues to play an essential part in PLU’s mitigation strategies and in keeping our community healthy and well. Click here for more information about the PLU clinic.
- For the whole community — There are no more on-campus community testing dates for May. Pierce County is now offering proactive community testing at the Pierce County Covid-19 Testing Station, only six minutes away from campus. The testing station is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
PLU Case Totals
(now updated on Wednesdays)
PLU Pre-Arrival and Proactive Community Testing Positives: 11 out of 17629*
*These positives have already been counted in the Known Active Cases and Known Cases Resolved.
Data-driven Decision Making
As PLU retires the Campus Status Dial, we will still have key metrics that the university is tracking daily. These factors, when considered holistically and in the context of trend and impact, will inform how to best serve and care for our community of nearly 3,500 students, faculty, and staff.
PLU factors in the model include:
- Active COVID-19 positive cases
- Isolation and quarantine capacity
- Number and/or size of any clusters on campus
- Availability of PPE supplies
- Ability to sustain campus operations and provide student care
Regional infection rate and health-system factors in the model include:
- Fourteen-day rate of new cases per 100,000 people, with consideration of trends
- Regional COVID-19 virus reproduction (R0) rate
- Seven-day percentage of COVID-19 tests with positive results
- Licensed hospital bed capacity
- COVID-19 positive hospitalization rate
PLU Community COVID-19 Data
The numbers listed below are intended to keep our community informed about the number of known COVID-19 cases on campus, as well as the number of known COVID-19 cases that were positive but are no longer considered active cases. This information will be updated every Wednesday (at minimum), in tandem with the dial, and will reflect the data from the previous week. (Data collection for the information on this page began March 23, 2020.)
Known Active Cases*
Total:
0
| On-campus Students | 0 |
| Off-campus Students | 0 |
| Employees | 0 |
| Total | 0 |
Known Active Cases are confirmed positives that have been identified through testing provided by the PLU Health Center, the Tacoma–Pierce County Health Department, and on-campus events sponsored by Pierce County Emergency Services. Additionally, these numbers include cases reported to the Health Center from off-campus testing.
Known Cases Resolved
Total:
51
Known Cases Resolved are cases that were positive, but are no longer considered active cases (i.e., they meet public-health criteria for discontinuing isolation). Data collection began March 23, 2020.
PLU Pre-Arrival and Proactive Community Testing
Total:
11
| Total to Date | 17629 |
| Total Positives to Date** | 11 |
Throughout the fall semester, PLU will employ a proactive community testing strategy—sometimes referred to as surveillance testing, pooled testing, or batch testing—for both on- and off-campus undergraduate students. This program allows us to identify cases where someone may have mild or no symptoms, to help prevent the spread of the virus within our campus community. Those chosen to test will continue to be part of a purposeful random sample that identifies and selects individuals from a pool of Lutes who have a known reason to be on campus in person, but if we have an area on campus that is seeing a high volume of cases, we may ask more individuals in that area to take part in testing. Click here for more information about PLU’s proactive community testing and testing dates.
*The data above includes employees and students who were confirmed as positive for COVID-19 though PLU testing, Tacoma Pierce-County Health Department or self-reporting, and who came to campus or were in close contact with anyone affiliated with campus.
** Please note: This number differs from total known cases because some positive cases are identified by testing symptomatic students directly through the PLU Health Center or by testing not provided by PLU.
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