As you all are well aware, COVID-19 has been classified as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. We are strongly recommending that you take the precaution of suspending all non-essential functions here at the dental school. The fact of the matter is, the younger population of healthy students that attend the SOD are not at a high risk. Our bodies are able to fight off this disease in a relatively efficient manner. We are greatly concerned for the well being of our faculty members; this includes administration, doctors, hygienists, and all other staff members that may be at a higher risk of mortality if they contract COVID-19. As dental students, we are working in people’s mouths all day and sitting in tight classrooms full of over 100 students, shoulder to shoulder. Our masks do not fully protect us against this virus. The doctors that oversee the clinics are at an extremely high risk, seeing patients and interacting with us on a day to day basis. We’ve already seen multiple government and private organizations take swift action, but we are still waiting for your proper response to this crisis. The risk of not closing down the dental school far outweighs the benefits. The amount of students and doctors that see patients each day almost guarantees that an outbreak will occur at our school. It’s not if, but when this becomes a life threatening disaster for the hundreds of elderly doctors and staff here at the SOD. We ask that you take the necessary actions and close down all non-essential functions at the school of dentistry until we are better equipped to handle this situation.

Thank You,

Students, faculty, and staff of the VCU School of Dentistry