海角社区 is entirely free of COVID-19 for the first time since the global pandemic began.
University officials announced on Thursday afternoon that there are no cases whatsoever among its more than 50,000 students, faculty and staff for the first time since it began daily tracking of the coronavirus.
鈥淭his could change tomorrow,鈥 said Paul Allvin, Mason鈥檚 vice president of strategic communications and marketing, 鈥渂ut, for today, Mason is COVID-free. Life is good.鈥
Mason has long ranked among the nation鈥檚 shining examples of COVID management with a daily system that helps the school closely monitor the virus鈥 spread to avoid any large outbreaks. The online screening tool that began last fall must be completed seven days a week by students, faculty, staff and contractors.
University researchers led by , the co-founder and co-director of Mason鈥檚 within the , led the charge this spring to expand COVID testing to roughly 10,000 campus community members per week. .
, partnering with Fairfax and Prince William Counties. The clinics are now responsible for putting nearly 90,000 shots in people鈥檚 arms in the university and surrounding communities, said Julie Zobel, Mason鈥檚 associate vice president for safety, emergency and enterprise risk management.