Fall 2021: Stay Vigilant. Be Resilient.

As the university continues to monitor the COVID-19 situation, please be sure to carefully and regularly review messages from App State.

In her Sept. 24 message to campus, Chancellor Everts reported increased vaccination rates and decreasing active case counts on campus, and downward favorable trends in Watauga County and statewide.

At a Sept. 21 North Carolina emergency briefing, Gov. Roy Cooper and Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS), highlighted an important milestone for North Carolina: North Carolina has administered over 11 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 63 percent of the adult population fully vaccinated.

The COVID-19 vaccine remains our best defense against the virus, including the Delta variant, and the university continues to strongly encourage all students and employees to get fully vaccinated.

Keep reading for full details on COVID-19-related updates and information.

Resources:
App State's Coronavirus site • App State’s Fall 2021 Guide to Campus Operations • North Carolina’s COVID-19 Information Hub

Important Information Security Update

COVID-19-related fraudulent emails

On Sept. 22, some students and employees received fraudulent emails claiming to contain COVID-19 test results. App State’s Information Security team removed these emails from inboxes and contacted individuals who opened the attachment with further instructions. 

Please be aware that there are many online fraud attempts that are attempting to use the COVID-19 situation as a pretext to target the personal information of students and employees.

Protect yourself from these and other phishing attempts:

• Official communications from the university regarding COVID-19 response are posted to the App State Coronavirus Information site — you can find and verify these communications on the Latest Updates page.
  
  
• When you are tested for COVID-19, ask the officials at the testing site how you can expect to receive your results.
  
  
• If you ever have doubts about an email, NEVER open an attachment or click on included links. If you receive an email to your appstate.edu email account that raises any question in your mind about its legitimacy, forward the email to phishing@appstate.edu.
  
  
• Review ITS’s Protect Yourself from Phishing Attempts page for additional information about how to protect yourself from phishing scams. 

App State’s Information Security team continues to track and respond to these attacks as they are detected. They work every day to keep your information secure, and will alert campus to additional fraudulent activity as needed.

COVID-19 Testing Update

App State continues to hold on-campus COVID-19 testing weekly

On-campus COVID-19 testing clinics for students and employees who would like a COVID-19 test for any reason are offered each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, inside Legends from noon - 4 p.m. Check the university’s COVID-19 Testing page for the latest schedule of upcoming testing events, as days, times and locations are subject to change.

• For on-campus COVID-19 testing clinics, you must show your AppCard and have your Banner ID ready.
  
  
• Getting tested on campus fulfills the weekly COVID-19 testing requirement for unvaccinated students and employees and your test results are automatically provided to the university.

Required reporting of COVID-19 test results and other required reports

Students and employees who are unvaccinated or who have not yet uploaded their vaccine status are required to continue submitting a COVID-19 test each Friday by 5 p.m. Self-reporting test results must be verified by a testing laboratory (no home test kits) and are monitored for compliance. Visit the university’s Reporting page for more information about how to report COVID-19 test results, as well as illness and exposure.

• If you get tested at an on-campus testing clinic, you DO NOT need to submit your COVID-19 test results. These are automatically provided to the university.
  
  
• ALL students and employees who get a COVID-19 test at an off-campus location are required to submit positive or negative test results, regardless of vaccination status. 
  
  
• If you get tested off-campus, use these links to submit your test results:
• Submit positive test results here.
• Submit negative test results here.

New quarantine and isolation guidance

On Sept. 18, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its Quarantine and Isolation guidance — review this page for steps to take if you need to quarantine or isolate.

• Additionally, visit CDC’s What to Do If You Are Sick page for steps to prevent the spread of the virus if you are sick with suspected or confirmed COVID-19.
  
  
• As a reminder, if you live in a residence hall and are required to quarantine or isolate, you must return home for that period, with very limited exceptions.
  
  
• Please also note that App State follows CDC isolation and quarantine protocols for all students and employees who are required to quarantine by public health.

Resources: 
COVID-19 Testing • Reporting • Submit Your COVID-19 Test Results

Vax Up and Mask Up!

Don’t wait to vaccinate!

Vaccines are safe, effective and continue to be highly effective at preventing COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths. Free COVID-19 vaccines are widely available to anyone 12 and older. 

The bottom line: vaccines are our best defense against COVID-19 — especially the highly contagious Delta variant.

• What you need to know about variants:
  
  
• Variants are expected and vaccines are the best way to prevent the emergence of new variants, in addition to protecting you and your loved ones from getting sick, being hospitalized, or dying from COVID-19.
  
  
• All COVID-19 tests can detect all variants, but they will not tell you which variant you have.
  
  
• The best way to slow the emergence of any new variants is to reduce the spread of infection. Protect yourself and the people you love by using layers of protection:
  
  
• Get vaccinated against COVID-19.
  
  
• Wear a face covering indoors and consider wearing one in crowded outdoor settings.
  
  
• Get tested for COVID-19 if you exhibit symptoms, even if you are fully vaccinated.
  
  
• If you test positive, seek treatment early. Treatment is not a substitute for vaccination against COVID-19.
  
  
• CDC recommends that you get vaccinated even if you already had COVID-19 because vaccination is a safer way to prevent reinfection.
  
  
• On Sept. 20, Pfizer BioNTech announced that the vaccine is safe and well-tolerated by children ages 5 to 11 and that they plan to include these data in their request for Emergency Use Authorization. 

If you have questions about the COVID-19 vaccine, talk with your healthcare provider. Visit the university’s COVID-19 Vaccines page for vaccine providers and information about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Vaccine data

• As of Sept. 23, CDC’s COVID Data Tracker reports that more than 182 million Americans or about 55% have been fully vaccinated — 64% of Americans have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. 
  
  
• As of Sept. 24, North Carolina has administered more than 11 million COVID-19 vaccine doses and 53% of the state’s total population has been fully vaccinated. 

App State Resources: 
COVID-19 Vaccines • Face Coverings • COVID-19 Testing

Additional COVID-19 vaccine resources: 
Get your COVID-19 vaccination record • Vaccines for COVID-19 (CDC) • COVID-19 Vaccine Information (NCDHHS) 

COVID-19 data: 
App State COVID-19 Dashboard • AppHealthCare dashboard • COVID-19 vaccines dashboard (NCDHHS) • COVID Data Tracker (CDC)

Campus Operations

Upcoming events

As App State continues to welcome families and visitors to campus, please remember that face coverings are required in all indoor campus locations — CDC continues to recommend wearing a face covering in crowded outdoor settings. 

• App State celebrates the class of 2020 Sept. 23 - 25. Visit the Celebrating the Class of 2020 site for details, including a schedule of events.

Additional Information

Please remember the global pandemic is dynamic, and continues to be a rapidly developing situation. Continue to read your App State email regularly — the latest information is also posted to App State’s Coronavirus site.

• The university will adjust COVID-19 safety protocols, procedure and policy according to the latest federal, state, local and UNC System guidance. 
  
  
• Following CDC guidance, App State will use county-based community spread data to determine when requirements can be lessened or lifted.  
  
  
• If you have questions or concerns about the university’s COVID-19 response and recovery efforts, please contact the App State’s COVID-19 Call Center at 828-262-2000 Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Outside of business hours, you will be prompted to leave a message and someone will return your call.

Coming soon:

• Information about upcoming flu shot clinics for students, faculty and staff. 

Additional resources:
Latest Updates • Face Coverings • COVID-19 Vaccines • Reporting COVID-19 Cases • COVID-19 Testing