COVID-19 Sign on Campus | Photo by Caitlin Shatsby | The Wright State Guardian
Counties surrounding Wright State University’s (WSU) Dayton and Lake campuses remain at high levels of transmission for COVID-19 despite daily cases decreasing.
Cases and vaccination rates
Dayton campus
According to The Ohio Department of Health’s COVID Dashboard, Greene County, the county in which the Dayton Campus resides, has 4,986 cases. Clark, Montgomery and Warren Counties, or Raider Country, have 4,288, 14,849 and 5,759 cases respectively.
According to The Center for Disease Control (CDC), Greene County has a vaccination rate of 66% among the eligible population. Montgomery and Warren Counties both have rates below 60%. The CDC defines someone who is fully vaccinated as someone who is two weeks after their final dose.
Lake campus
The Department’s COVID Dashboard states that Mercer County, the county that Lake Campus is in, has had a total of 932 cases since Aug, 23, 2021. The surrounding counties, Van Wert and Auglaize, have 869 and 1,288 cases respectively.
41.4% of the eligible Mercer County population is vaccinated according to the CDC. Van Wert and Auglaize Counties have similarly low vaccination rates at 44.9% and 41.7% respectively.
The counties surrounding the Lake Campus have fewer cases despite lower vaccination rates due to the differences in population sizes among the surrounding counties.
WSU’s policy’s
Dr. Timothy Crawford, Assistant Professor in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences and Department of Family Medicine, said that wearing a mask indoors regardless of vaccination status will help reduce the spread of COVID.
“In the surrounding counties, we are still seeing low vaccination rates and high community transmission,” Dr. Crawford said.
This is in line with what the CDC recommends about wearing a mask in areas of high transmission.
WSU reinstated its mask mandate on Aug. 5, 2021 in response to the CDC recommending that all individuals wear a mask indoors regardless of vaccination status.
“The university’s decision to revise its campus mask policy is based on the latest guidance from the [CDC] and our state and local health partners,” according to a campus-wide email.
The university is also conducting randomized testing of students, faculty and staff according to a recent campus communication.
