UW-Eau Claire students kick off fall semester with reaching 70% vaccination goal. As of Sept. 16, over 70% of students have submitted their vaccination records to the university. 

The significance of the 70% vaccination rate comes from Tommy Thompson’s, the UW System President, incentive “70 for 70”.

According to the UW Systems website, once a UW System university achieves 70% of the student population vaccinated, those who submit proof of vaccination are eligible to win one of 70 scholarships worth $7,000. 

“We are investing for success and vaccinated students will not only keep our campuses safe and healthy, but also help us to avoid the human and capital costs associated with outbreaks we want to prevent,” Thompson said.

On Sept. 17th UW-Eau Claire students received an email regarding the 70% accomplishment.

This email was sent from Grace Crickette,Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration, stating that the next goal for the university is 80% of students uploading their vaccination record. 

“Every additional vaccination percentage will help us stay together on campus and enjoy the full Blugold Experience,” Crickette said in the email, “so let’s keep our momentum as we push into October.”

Data from the COVID-19 dashboard shows that 73.3% of students have uploaded their vaccination records to the university as of Sept. 20.

When looking at the UW System vaccination dashboard, UW-Eau Claire has the fourth highest percentage of student vaccination records out of all UW System schools. 

UW-Madison has the highest rate of vaccination records with 91%, followed by UW-La Crosse and UW-Milwaukee with 75% and 74% respectively being vaccinated as of Sept. 16. 

The lowest reported vaccination record percentage is UW-Parkside with 38%. 

The number of COVID-19 tests and positive cases have decreased from last week according to the UW-Eau Claire COVID-19 dashboard. 

As of 9:30 a.m. on Sept 17, there was only one new reported positive case of COVID-19. 

The number of tests have decreased down to the 100s for both on and off-campus students. 

Data from Sept. 17 states that 112 on-campus students and 131 off-campus students were tested for COVID-19. 

Sixteen members of faculty and staff were tested during this time as well. 

A report from the Eau Claire County Health Department released on Sept. 17 states the county’s rating for COVID-19 Activity is “Very High” with “No Significant Change”.

The health department website also states that community transmission for the county remains classified as “High” (CDC’s highest rating).”

This report also states that based on data obtained from Sept. 14th, over half of Eau Claire County has been vaccinated totaling at 53%. 

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services recommends that anyone above the age of 12 years old gets vaccinated. The website states that vaccines are safe, effective and free. 

More information can be found on the Center for Disease Control website.

Shanahan can be reached at [email protected].