Campus guidelines keep COVID-19 cases at Mason low among students and employees  

BY LIANNA BROWN, CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

During the 2020-2021 school year, Mason was applauded for its ability to keep campus COVID-19 cases low. As the United States surpasses 40 million known COVID-19 cases, with cases on the rise due to the Delta variant, how do Mason’s numbers compare? 

Over the summer, new rules were put in place to stop the spread of the virus, including a mask and vaccination mandate on campus. In addition to the mask and vaccination mandates, Mason requires a daily COVID-19 health check for those coming to campus and is encouraging safety precautions including social distancing and frequent hand-washing. 

According to the Mason COVID-19 dashboard, during the first week of classes, from Aug. 22 to Aug. 28, 24 students tested positive for COVID-19 out of 5,312 students tested. One employee tested positive out of the 385 people tested. This is a 0.5% positivity rate for students, and a 0.3% positivity rate for employees. 

Last week, from Aug. 29 to Sept. 2, 13 students tested positive out of 4,672 students tested. Three employees tested positive out of 280 employees tested. This is a positivity rate of 0.3% for students, and 1.1% for employees. 

Out of 30,528 students, 27,332 are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, receiving both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or one dose of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, with a vaccination rate of 89.5%. Out of 6,845 employees, 6,017 are vaccinated, with a vaccination rate of 87.9%. 

In Fairfax county, 717,743 people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, as of Sept. 7. This is a vaccination rate of 60.6%. 

In Virginia, 4,894,969 people have been fully vaccinated, with 57.3% of the population fully vaccinated.