How many UK students and employees have not complied with COVID-19 testing?
Of more than 26,600 students at the University of Kentucky who have to either be vaccinated or tested for COVID-19 weekly, about 2,100 were out of compliance last week.
Students and employees who are not vaccinated are required to be tested for COVID-19 weekly at UK. Those who do not comply face disciplinary actions from the university. The most recent testing period was last Monday through Sunday, UK spokesperson Jay Blanton said.
Of the 2,100 students out of compliance, 900 of them have not submitted a vaccination record or been tested for COVID-19 since the school year began, Blanton said. About 200 students have missed one testing period, 400 have missed two testing periods and 600 have missed three testing periods.
Blanton said UK believes some of them are vaccinated, but have not yet completed the university’s self-report tool.
As of Sept. 27, the most recently available data, 87% of UK students and employees are either fully vaccinated or are in the process of becoming fully vaccinated, according to UK’s COVID-19 dashboard. When broken down, 85.1% of students are vaccinated, 93.8% of faculty are vaccinated, and 89.3% of staff are vaccinated.
The number of employees who are either vaccinated or tested weekly, meaning only those who come to campus and are not UK HealthCare employees, is around 8,500. Of those, around 980 are out of compliance, Blanton said. UK HealthCare employees were required to be vaccinated as of Sept. 15, and 90.8% of the HealthCare employees are vaccinated as of Sept. 27, according to the UK COVID-19 dashboard.
The testing requirement for unvaccinated employees went into effect on Sept. 1. Students who are not vaccinated have been required to get tested weekly since the beginning of the school year.
Earlier this month, President Eli Capilouto outlined disciplinary measures for students and employees who do not comply with the weekly testing requirement.
For students:
- After the first period of testing noncompliance, a hold is placed on the student’s account. That stops students from being able to do things like register for the next semester’s classes.
- After the second period of testing noncompliance, the student cannot attend athletic events or social activities.
- After the third period of testing noncompliance, a conduct meeting is held, which could result in probation from the university.
- After the fourth period of noncompliance, a second conduct meeting is held, which could result in interim suspension.
For employees:
- After the first testing period of noncompliance, a letter is sent to the employee and employee’s supervisor.
- After the second period, a letter is placed in the employee’s permanent personnel record, and the supervisor is copied.
- After the third period, the employee will become ineligible for a 2% merit raise until they become fully vaccinated or comply with testing.
- After the fourth missed testing period, the employee is placed on unpaid administrative leave until they are fully vaccinated or comply with testing.
- Part-time student employees and staff have similar disciplinary letters for the first two missed testing periods. The third missed testing period could cause the employee to be fired.