In an effort to mitigate COVID-19 risk on campus, the University of Virginia (UVA) has disenrolled 238 students who did not comply with the school's coronavirus vaccination requirement.
Only 49 of the 238 students who were disenrolled from the upcoming fall semester on Friday were actually registered for courses.
UVA spokesperson Brian Coy told CNN that the other 189 students 'may not have been planning to return to the university this fall at all.'
University policy requires that all students living, learning or working on the UVA campus must be fully vaccinated against the virus to participate in the 2021-2022 academic year. The university does offer medical and religious exemptions, however those must be approved prior to on-campus arrival.
All UVA faculty, staff, and health team members are also expected to be vaccinated.
The University of Virginia disenrolled 238 students on Friday for not complying with the school's coronavirus vaccination requirement. Only 49 of the 238 students who have been disenrolled were actually registered for classes
Students were informed of UVA's vaccine requirement earlier this year and reminded throughout the summer that they needed to get the COVID shot to avoid disenrollment.
"Students out of compliance received multiple emails, calls, text messages and -- in some cases -- calls to their parents. Our numbers show that our students responded to this. This means we can have the kind of in-person semester where people can engage in normal ways," Coy explained.
He notes that 96.6 percent of the UVA student body has been vaccinated and 1.3 percent were able to claim religious or medical exemptions.
Those with exemptions have been asked to take additional COVID-19 precautions including mask wearing and mandatory testing.
"If you're unvaccinated, we ask that you wear a mask at all times -- indoors or outdoors -- whenever you're around people. Anyone unvaccinated and has an exemption will have to test once a week, we're starting once a week: That might go up," said Coy.
UVA officials confirmed that 96.6 percent of the student body has been vaccinated and 1.3 percent were able to claim religious or medical exemptions
University policy requires that all students living, learning or working on the UVA campus must be fully vaccinated against COVID. The school has taken several precautions in an effort to mitigate spread (pictured: family wearing masks during student move-in last week)
Students were informed of UVA's vaccine requirement earlier this year and reminded throughout the summer that they needed to get the COVID shot to avoid disenrollment (pictured: UVA student move-in last week)
The university is giving students who were enrolled at the university on Wednesday a week to update their vaccination status, at which point they can re-enroll for fall classes.
Two-thirds of UVA students are from Virginia, a state that has seen a rise in COVID cases over the past few weeks.
As of Friday, the Virginia Department of Health had reported 734,079 total cases of COVID-19 in the state with a seven-day positivity rate of 9.7 percent.
The state also reported 48 additional deaths on Friday, rising the overall death toll to 11,647.
Like many other states nationwide, Virginia is seeing a rise in cases driven by the Delta variant.
As of Friday, the Virginia Department of Health had reported 734,079 total cases of COVID-19 in the state with a seven-day positivity rate of 9.7 percent
Like many other states nationwide, Virginia is seeing a rise in cases driven by the Delta variant
As of Friday, 4,741,951 Virginians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, accounting for 55.6 percent of the population. 5,358,421 people, or 62.8 percent of citizens, have received at least one dose of the vaccine
Officials with the state's major hospital networks also attribute the case increases to low vaccination rates, Virginia Mercury reported.
State data revealed that, as of Friday, 4,741,951 Virginians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, accounting for 55.6 percent of the population.
5,358,421 people, or 62.8 percent of citizens, have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
UVA is just one of more than 680 public and private colleges across the U.S. requiring students to get the coronavirus vaccine, according to U.S. News and World Report.
Many schools made the decision to mandate vaccines after schools closed in spring 2020 and shifted to remote instruction.
Officials said online learning yielded mixed results and that campuses are really pushing to 'get back to normal operations as quickly as possible'.
UVA is just one of more than 680 public and private colleges across the U.S. requiring students to get the coronavirus vaccine. Collegiate officials nationwide have said that campuses are really pushing to 'get back to normal operations as quickly as possible'
UVA is giving students who were enrolled at the university on Wednesday a week to update their vaccination status, at which point they can re-enroll for fall classes (pictured: UVA student move-in last week)
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