#COVID19

Mar 14
2 min

Spring break is back after two years of calendar upsets

It’s been a long time coming, but spring break is finally here. After nearly three years of battling with break cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the break marks another next step towards normalcy for students at Belmont For many upperclassmen, this week will be the first time since 2019 that they will get a break in the middle of the spring semester. “It feels good to have a normal spring break,” said senior Adam Budd. “I can finally reset and do things I’ve been

Two years ago, the world shut down. Here’s where we are today.

Sarah Maninger

Mar 11
3 min

Two years ago, the world shut down. Here’s where we are today.

Keys, wallet, phone, mask — for over a year those were the words people muttered quietly to themselves before leaving the house. Now, they discover masks crumpled up and forgotten in every corner of the house, serving as not-so-distant memories of a monstrous and monotonous pandemic. But after two years and millions of vaccinations later, after months of masking, distancing and waiting for a light to appear at the end of the tunnel, the world is returning to some semblance of

VIDEO: Students react to relaxed campus mask policy

Chandler Maynard

Mar 1
1 min

VIDEO: Students react to relaxed campus mask policy

VNN’s Camden Morris talks to students about the mask-optional policy Belmont University’s COVID-19 Task Force put into place on February 22 2022. — This video was posted by Chandler Maynard. #maskmandate #Omicron #video #COVID19 #studentvoices

Belmont announces end of campus mask mandate

Sarah Maninger

Feb 22
2 min

Belmont announces end of campus mask mandate

Belmont University’s mask mandate comes to end Wednesday morning. An email sent to students Tuesday night confirmed indoor masking will be optional on campus starting at 8 a.m., relaxing a mandate which has been in place since students returned in August 2020. Masks were mandatory both indoors and outdoors during the 2020-21 school year. “Those who wish to continue to wear masks are welcome to do so,” the email said. Belmont set a pandemic record for positive COVID-19 cases i

Anna Jackson

Feb 4
3 min

OPINION: Masks are a must, not a maybe

As an omicron tidal wave wallops Belmont, COVID-19 case numbers are surging at the university like never before. We knew this would happen. We knew this would be another semester deeply affected by coronavirus. The highly contagious variant “will ultimately find just about everybody,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But many students and faculty at Belmont still refuse to do even the bare minimum when it comes to mitigating the effec

Quarantined students denied online class access amid rising case numbers

Anna Jackson

Feb 4
2 min

Quarantined students denied online class access amid rising case numbers

Students are sick, and what’s more, they’re sick of missing class. As the rapid spread of omicron hikes case numbers to new heights at Belmont, more and more students find themselves in quarantine while they recover. During online semesters in the past, keeping up with coursework just meant logging onto regularly scheduled Zoom meetings. But this spring, an increasing number of faculty refuse to make online accommodations for those sick at home. Student frustrations boiled ov

Belmont’s COVID-19 numbers rise again as Nashville’s plateau

Sarah Maninger

Jan 31
2 min

Belmont’s COVID-19 numbers rise again as Nashville’s plateau

Belmont set another record this week, but not one it should be proud of. For the second Monday in a row, the university surpassed its growing total of positive COVID-19 cases, tallying 121 new cases among students, faculty and staff between Jan. 24 and Jan. 30. This is the new all-time high after last week’s 107 cases. Belmont Health Services was not available for comment prior to publication. Data shows that omicron has peaked in Nashville and neighboring counties, but the f

Belmont tallies record-high COVID-19 case numbers

Sarah Maninger

Jan 24
2 min

Belmont tallies record-high COVID-19 case numbers

Omicron arrived at Belmont in full force this week bringing at least 107 positive COVID-19 cases, an all-time high for the pandemic. The university reported 40 residential cases, 52 non-residential cases and 15 faculty cases, according to data released Monday. This surge eclipses the previous case record on campus — 82 reported the first week of March 2021. “This number is not surprising given the recent surge in case counts nationwide and the high transmissibility rate of th

Where to find COVID-19 tests on and off campus as omicron surges

Sarah Maninger

Jan 16
2 min

Where to find COVID-19 tests on and off campus as omicron surges

It’s the hot commodity stores can’t keep on shelves — at-home COVID-19 tests. In Nashville, CVS, Walgreens and other retailers have empty shelves where at-home test kits should sit. When new shipments of tests arrive in stores, they are often sold out within the hour, said a pharmacist at the Publix 8th Avenue location. Online orders and clinic appointments take weeks to get. But as the on-campus population begins to return to Belmont on Saturday and Sunday, Health Services D

Back to school, back to Zoom: Belmont to start spring classes online, citing spread of omicron

Anna Jackson

Dec 28, 2021
1 min

Back to school, back to Zoom: Belmont to start spring classes online, citing spread of omicron

Belmont’s campus and classes will once again go virtual for the first two weeks of the upcoming semester due to the rapid rise of the COVID-19 omicron variant. Classes will meet online through Jan. 18 — the Tuesday after Martin Luther King Jr. Day — and student residence halls will remain closed until Jan. 15, university Provost Thomas Bruns said in an email Tuesday. The change of plans comes barely a week before the spring semester is set to begin on Jan. 5. Meanwhile, new C

Students gather to protest Belmont’s lack of COVID quarantine housing

Sarah Maninger

Nov 11, 2021
4 min

Students gather to protest Belmont’s lack of COVID quarantine housing

“What do we want? COVID housing! When do we want it? Now!” Voices protesting Belmont’s COVID-19 policies, led by sophomores Natalie Schilling and Caroline Shutley, filled the streets Wednesday as a group of students marched up 15th Avenue to the steps of the Janet Ayers Academic Center. Schilling and Shutley organized the protest seeking enforcement of Belmont’s campus-wide indoor mask-wearing as well as the reinstatement of on-campus quarantine housing for students who test

‘Mask violations abound’: Belmont faculty member challenges university COVID-19 protocol

Sarah Maninger

Sep 23, 2021
5 min

‘Mask violations abound’: Belmont faculty member challenges university COVID-19 protocol

The Belmont community is abuzz with reactions to a Nashville Scene article submitted by an anonymous Belmont professor condemning the university’s lack of COVID-19 precautions. In the article, which was published to the Scene website Tuesday, the author said Belmont “has thrown out all precautions except one,” referring to the university’s indoor mask mandate for all students, faculty and staff, regardless of vaccination status — a mask mandate which often goes unobserved. “V

Students take their shot at Belmont Health Services’ pop-up vaccine clinic

Connor Daryani

Sep 22, 2021
2 min

Students take their shot at Belmont Health Services’ pop-up vaccine clinic

The lines at Tuesday’s vaccine clinic were far shorter than those at the grand opening of the campus Chick-fil-A last week, despite publicity from the university and a choice of COVID-19 vaccines. Belmont hosted a walk-up vaccine clinic to boost the student vaccination rate against COVID-19, which sits at 67.9% according to data released Monday. The clinic offered a choice of the Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, as well as the seasonal flu shot and other routin

OPINION: Belmont must join other US universities in mandating the COVID-19 vaccine

Sarah Maninger

Sep 4, 2021
3 min

OPINION: Belmont must join other US universities in mandating the COVID-19 vaccine

Belmont needs to do better. The release of the university’s COVID-19 vaccination rates Tuesday showed only 63% of students received vaccinations against the virus. The university strongly encourages the vaccine on a voluntary basis, but as case numbers start to rise once again at Belmont and beyond — this time with deadlier, more contagious variants in the mix — it’s clear that strong encouragement isn’t enough. The upward trends in case frequency tell an all-too-familiar sto

The state of COVID-19 at Belmont University

Sarah Maninger

Aug 25, 2021
3 min

The state of COVID-19 at Belmont University

For the third semester in a row, Belmont University is taking precautions against COVID-19, and students returning to classes Wednesday will be met with a few familiar protocols and a few new ones. Unlike last semester, Belmont is allowing larger gatherings and visitation once again; dorms are back to full capacity and face masks are only required to be worn inside. “I’m anxious about being sure that we keep everyone safe and that we have a really good year for teaching and l

What we’ve lost: Reflecting on a year of COVID-19

Kendall Crawford

Mar 26, 2021
5 min

What we’ve lost: Reflecting on a year of COVID-19

Teacora Sherrill no longer sees the pandemic in terms of numbers. It’s hard to escape them – the number of hospitalizations, the number of cases in your state, the over-500,000 virus-caused deaths in America. They’re in television reports, headlines and daily conversations. As they grow and shrink, people have used them as a way of measuring our failures and successes as a nation. But for Sherrill, it’s impossible not to see her Aunt Renae Byrd, who passed from COVID-19 in Se