Dear Kenyon College community,
Eligibility for vaccines in Ohio is now open to anyone over the age of 16 regardless of citizenship or residency. Knox Public Health is facilitating two first-come-first-serve COVID-19 vaccine clinics tomorrow, March 31: The first will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the MVHS Energy Fieldhouse, and the second from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Knox County Career Center cafeteria.
We strongly encourage all members of our community to be vaccinated against COVID-19, and we hope students will take some time during their day off classes tomorrow to attend a clinic. If you plan to attend, bring a form of ID that identifies your name and age. The vaccine is free of charge.
Transportation to Clinic
To facilitate vaccine access, we have arranged free transportation from campus to the morning clinic. A shuttle bus will depart from McBride Residence Hall circle for the Energy Fieldhouse at the following times: 8 a.m., 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and noon. It will depart the Energy Fieldhouse for McBride circle at the following times: 8:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., and 1 p.m. The bus will run at half capacity, with a maximum of 28 students each round. Seats are first-come-first-serve, no reservations.
Students may also choose to drive to the clinics in their own vehicles (map to Energy Fieldhouse here; map to KCCC cafeteria here.) In addition, Knox Area Transit is providing free transportation for county residents, including students, to KPH clinics and to appointments at Knox Community Hospital; call 740-392-7433 for more information and to schedule a ride. We encourage our students to use our bus before calling KAT for transportation to the clinic tomorrow morning — but whatever transportation option you choose, please be sure to stay masked and follow all public health protocols.
Other Vaccination Options
We remain in communication with KPH regarding the possibility of hosting a vaccine clinic on campus, but those plans are not firm. Additional options for securing a COVID-19 vaccine, including details on the KPH-Knox Community Hospital’s appointment waitlist, are on our website. As KCH receives more vaccine supply, they will continue to pull from the waitlist, so consider signing up if you have not already.
Quiet Period Reminder
As a reminder, we remain in a quiet period through at least Friday, April 2, and are testing all students-in-residence this week for COVID-19, including students who have been partially or fully vaccinated. The COVID-19 vaccine will not cause a positive PCR test result. Students-in-residence, please refer to Cox Center Director Chris Smith’s March 28 email for more details. We expect to have enough test results back by the end of the week to determine whether we need to extend the quiet period.
COVID-19 case and testing data is available on the College’s online dashboard, which is updated weekdays around 6 p.m. EST. We have received 328 COVID-19 test results in the past seven days, 10 of which were positive; we currently have 10 active cases among students on campus and 23 students are in quarantine.
Prepared by the Office of Communications
March 30, 2021