Georgia universities announce COVID-19 policies heading into fall semester
Entering the fall semester of this year, colleges across Georgia loosened COVID-19 policies.
Middle Georgia universities including Georgia College, Middle Georgia State University, Mercer University and Wesleyan College all changed their COVID policies from the last academic year.
Georgia College and Middle Georgia State University are public universities under the University System of Georgia (USG), which sets COVID guidelines for all system schools.
In May, USG officials said fully vaccinated individuals were no longer required to wear masks and unvaccinated individuals were “strongly encouraged” to wear masks indoors. Although USG didn’t require vaccinations, officials also “strongly encouraged” students and university employees to get vaccinated.
Mercer University and Wesleyan College are private, so university officials created their own COVID policies since they are not part of USG.
GEORGIA COLLEGE
Georgia College states on their website that the university follows the guidelines set by USG, the CDC and the Georgia Department of Public Health, which means the college doesn’t require vaccines or masks. Instead, Georgia College encourages individuals on campus to wear masks and get vaccinated.
The college offers vaccinations on campus every Thursday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Student Health Services. Individuals can either make a vaccine appointment or walk-in.
Georgia College also offers a drive-in option, in a partnership with the Baldwin County Department of Health, where no appointment is required. The drive-in vaccination site is at the health department in Milledgeville (100 Ireland Drive).
COVID testing is also available on campus on a daily basis.
Georgia College reports positive cases weekly, on a self-reporting basis. Since June of 2020, there have been 1,361 positive cases reported at the college.
MIDDLE GEORGIA
Also a part of USG, Middle Georgia State University is required to follow the university system’s COVID policies, meaning there are no official mask mandates or vaccination requirements.
The university offers vaccinations at their Cochran campus and also has a list of vaccination sites near their campuses listed on their website.
At the Macon and Cochran campuses, they also offer COVID testing available by appointment.
Like Georgia College, the positive cases reported at Middle Georgia State University are self-reported. They release a report every week on Mondays.
Since the fall semester started, there have been 319 total student and employee positive cases reported to the university.
MERCER UNIVERSITY
Since Mercer is a private institution, the administration creates their own COVID protocols.
For the fall semester, Mercer does not have a vaccination requirement, and masks are not required for vaccinated individuals.
Last semester, Mercer had a surveillance testing system where students were randomly selected to get tested for COVID. If students did not comply and complete the test, they were not allowed to attend classes.
This semester, unvaccinated individuals are subject to surveillance testing, but those who are vaccinated do not get selected.
Students can still get tested at Mercer even if they are vaccinated by creating an appointment through the MyMercer portal.
Mercer reports their weekly surveillance testing reports on their website every Friday.
WESLEYAN COLLEGE
Like Mercer, Wesleyan College is a private university that makes their COVID policies independently.
Wesleyan also does not have a vaccination requirement. However, Wesleyan nursing students are required to provide proof of vaccination to participate in clinicals.
This July, they released a statement that all students, staff, and visitors are required to wear a mask in public indoor spaces.
Like Georgia College and Middle Georgia State University, students and staff at Wesleyan self-report positive COVID cases to the university.
Wesleyan College reports known positive cases daily on their website. Since August, there have been 18 positive cases reported.
Faith Montgomery is a Mercer University student working with the Telegraph this semester.
This story was originally published August 30, 2021 at 7:00 AM.