By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
More than 600 people have applied for exemptions from Bowling Green State University’s vaccination mandate for the spring semester.
Students, staff, and faculty have until Nov. 1 to file for exemptions. “We expect more to come in as that deadline approaches,” Chief Health Officer Ben Batey told Faculty Senate Tuesday About 50 of those requests have been granted, and at this point none have been rejected.
Many have been deemed incomplete.
The university will allow for waivers for medical, religious, or personal conscience reasons.
Batey said about 10 percent of the requests are for medical reasons. These “are easier to process, and we’re working on starting to approve some of those.”
Religious exemptions account for about half the requests, Batey said. “That’s a very tricky topic for everyone to navigate.” It’s difficult, he said, when somebody files for a religious exemption with the support of a pastor or another member of the religious community for the university to argue that it’s not valid.
Many have been deemed incomplete as the university seeks further information from students and families. His office, Batey said, is working closely with the university’s general counsel.
They are keeping an eye on legislation at the state level, particularly House Bill 435 that would allow “very broad exemptions” for personal conscience.
The number of people reporting that they have been vaccinated continues to tick up. As the Nov. 29 deadline for reporting approaches, he expects more and more people to report.
Batey also addressed the need for continued masking. Faculty noted new signs have gone up to reinforce the university’s policy that facial coverings are required in all indoor settings.
Whether masks will be required in spring is “the $64,000 question,” he agreed.
Though cases are continuing to decline on campus, the level of infection is almost seven times above the 50 cases per 100,000 that the CDC says could mean the end of masking.
Facial coverings are useful against colds and flu strains.
“We certainly don’t want to require masks any longer than we have to, but we also want to feel confident that we’ve safely made it through flu season and a potential increase in COVID cases,” he said.
Asked about the efficacy of this year’s flu vaccine, he said, that can’t be determined until the season is over and it’s determined how much it controlled the spread.
At this point four strains of flu could be circulating. But, he added, even if someone doesn’t get a vaccine that exactly matches the strain, it will still greatly lessen the symptoms and duration of the illness.
The same is being seen with COVID. While some vaccinated people may still contract the disease, their cases are “much, much milder with a drastically reduced risk for hospitalization.”
This week’s BGSU COVID dashboard, reports 21 new cases at BGSU, down from 34 reported last week. Batey said that those cases listed as suspected, six this week, come from people who use home testing kits and call in their results, so they are not yet in the state’s database.
