Omar E. Zapata | THE RIDER
Eighteen positive cases were reported between Jan. 22 and 28 by the UTRGV COVID-19 Task Force’s Confirmed Cases Dashboard.
Doug Arney, vice president for Administrative Support Services and chair of the UTRGV Infectious Disease Committee, told The Rider on Wednesday that of the 18 cases, eight were students, eight were faculty and two were staff. Of the eight students, six were student athletes.
Arney said 12 students were being quarantined on campus, but not all of them tested positive for COVID-19.
“It’s an ongoing number,” he said. “We place students in quarantine just in case if they’ve been exposed to COVID-19, like, for example, if their roommate tests positive.”
As previously reported by The Rider, UTRGV and UT Health RGV launched an online COVID-19 Vaccine Portal for faculty, staff and student employees on Jan. 26.
“Completing your profile through the vaccine portal not only helps us measure vaccine demand–it also helps us track our progress toward “Herd Immunity” within our campus community, so we can return to normal face-to-face operations as soon as possible,” the University Marketing and Communications team wrote in an email Wednesday.
The email stated that while 2,000 employees submitted a profile, many are still unregistered.
Arney said there are a total of 6,616 faculty, staff and student employees at UTRGV. There are 2,897 staff members, 2,123 student employees and 1,596 faculty members.
To complete your vaccine profile, go to www.utrgv.edu/vaccineportal.
