President Szymanski has written a letter to UNF encouraging all students, faculty, and staff to get vaccinated and “embrace the philosophy of shared responsibility for the safety of our students, faculty, and staff.”

“Throughout this past month, communities across the United States have experienced significant increases in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations, driven primarily by the highly contagious Delta variant […] During this current surge, we are also seeing younger, unvaccinated individuals being hospitalized at an alarming rate,” the letter reads. 

His message amplifies the call for young people to get vaccinated prior to returning in the Fall semester. 14 students and 12 employees from UNF tested positive for COVID-19 last week alone. A massive increase in cases with June seeing just three students and five employees testing positive. 

Regardless of whether you are vaccinated or not, the CDC now recommends wearing a mask in public if you are in an area of substantial or high transmission. 

The Delta variant is raging across America as Dr. Fauci told NPR that “we are dealing with a different virus now.” According to data from the CDC, 46 percent of counties already have high transmission, and 17 percent with substantial transmission.

UNF is currently offering COVID-19 vaccines today through Friday, July 30. For more information visit here. 

Spinnaker will continue to follow the story as the situation develops.

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