COVID-19 Dashboard Rapidly Improves
Just three weeks ago, Marist College was steadily approaching a red alert level and a state-mandated shutdown. Now, as of April 30, there are only 13 active COVID-19 cases, and the Marist community is ready to return to a semblance of normalcy.
“Even with a bumpy start, I’m excited to try and end this semester on a good note,” Lauren Arnao ‘23 said. She expressed her appreciation for the Marist community not only taking action to prevent a further spread, but rallying together to get as many people vaccinated as possible.
Members of Marist’s senior leadership were able to acquire nearly 2000 doses to be administered to students on campus at 51 Fulton Street, as well as help locate off-campus sites where students were able to get vaccinated. Off-campus sites ranged from Moderna shots given at Mid-Hudson Regional Hospital to Pfizer shots given at the City of Poughkeepsie High School. The COVID-19 dashboard has now returned to a green alert level, meaning the virus prevalence is low and the spread is once again controllable.
“Marist made the process super easy for me,” John Iacino ‘23 said. “I literally signed up the day before and was getting my first vaccine the next day.” He described how all he had to do was sign up with a link that Marist provided him with and show up the next day at the hospital. Joey Polzello ‘23 had a similar experience, except he was vaccinated at Marist’s on-campus site in mid-April.
“I showed up, within ten minutes was vaccinated and after waiting for any reaction, was back in my room within the hour,” Polzello said. Iacino and Polzello were two of many students who got vaccinated through the help of Marist’s staff working to acquire vaccines in hopes of facilitating a smooth final month of the semester.
“Things are shaping up to look like what Marist is supposed to look like,” Matthew Bynum ‘22 said. “In the fall, things got worse as the semester went on, and it’s looking like the spring could be the exact opposite.”
Bynum was admittedly frustrated during the pause, as he felt like a lot of his semester was wasted, but expressed his optimism to at least finish the year strong. Many are hoping this will be the last semester Marist has to deal with a large COVID surge and that things will return to normal.
“Hopefully we can continue to be safe, get vaccinated, have a good rest of this semester and be back to normal by the fall,” Arnao said.
This article appeared in print incorrectly. This is the correct version.