Wellness Center

COVID/Emerging Health Concerns

Wofford College’s Wellness Center and Incident Management Team continue to monitor developments related to COVID-19. Students, faculty and staff are required to get COVID-19 vaccines and boosters and to upload proof of vaccination to the Wellness Center’s patient portal. Those with a strong personal objection to vaccination must upload a waiver to the patient portal. Waivers can be found here.

The campus community should be aware of the times and settings when masks are required on campus.

  • Masks will be required by those finishing isolation after testing positive for COVID-19.
  • Masks are still required when entering the Wellness Center and waiting in the lobby.
  • Students, staff and faculty may continue to ask others to wear masks in private spaces.
  • Faculty may require masks in their classrooms or labs.
  • People exposed to COVID-19 should wear a mask for 10 days. Quarantine is no longer required by the CDC, but those exposed should notify the Wellness Center by emailing covid@wofford.edu. Exposed individuals should test on the sixth day after exposure and report the results to the Wellness Center.

Remember, if you are feeling unwell, self-quarantine and wear a mask. If symptoms present that are consistent with COVID-19, seek testing through the Wofford Wellness Center or a local testing facility and limit contact with others.

Find more COVID-19 recommendations and information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Emerging Health Concerns

What is Monkeypox?
Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus. Monkeypox virus is part of the same family of viruses as variola virus, the virus that causes smallpox. Monkeypox symptoms are similar to smallpox symptoms, but milder, and monkeypox is rarely fatal. Monkeypox is not related to chickenpox.

Symptoms of Monkeypox:
People with monkeypox get a rash that may be located on or near the genitals and could be on other areas like the hands, feet, chest, face or mouth.

  • The rash will go through several stages, including scabs, before healing.
  • The rash can initially look like pimples or blisters and may be painful or itchy.
Other symptoms of monkeypox can include:
  • Fever
  • Chills
  • Swollen lymph nodes
  • Exhaustion
  • Muscle aches and backache
  • Headache
  • Respiratory symptoms (e.g. sore throat, nasal congestion or cough)
You may experience all or only a few symptoms
  • Sometimes, people have flu-like symptoms before the rash.
  • Some people get a rash first, followed by other symptoms.
  • Others only experience a rash.

How does Monkeypox spread?
Close or Intimate Contact

Monkeypox can spread to anyone through close, personal, often skin-to-skin contact, including:
  • Direct contact with monkeypox rash, scabs or body fluids from a person with monkeypox.
  • Touching objects, fabrics (clothing, bedding or towels) and surfaces that have been used by someone with monkeypox.
  • Contact with respiratory secretions.
This direct contact can happen during intimate contact, including:
  • Oral, anal, and vaginal sex or touching the genitals of a person with monkeypox.
  • Hugging, massage and kissing.
  • Prolonged face-to-face contact.
  • Touching fabrics and objects during sex that were used by a person with monkeypox and that have not been disinfected, such as bedding and towels.

Diagnosis:
Call your healthcare provider if you suspect that you may have monkeypox. Diagnosis is based on clinical symptoms and swabs of sores sent to laboratory. Clinicians may test for other diseases at the same time to rule out any other causes of rashes.

Treatment
Vaccine and other medications.

If you are at risk or have been exposed, please consider vaccination by calling the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) Care Line at 855-472-3432 for an appointment. DHEC will determine if you qualify for the vaccine and schedule an appointment if necessary.

Length of isolation:
A person with monkeypox can spread it to others from the time the symptoms start until the rash has fully healed and a fresh layer of skin has formed. The illness typically last two to four weeks, and the person needs to remain in isolation from others the whole time.

Current information on Monkeypox for South Carolina:
https://scdhec.gov/infectious-diseases/dhec-closely-following-international-monkeypox-outbreak

CDC site for Monkeypox:
https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/index.html