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Dear campus community, Over the past several weeks, we have seen a sustained decline in both the incidence and general severity of COVID-19 cases in Wayne County and on campus. As a result, we have made several changes to our COVID-19 policies on campus, which will take effect on Monday, Nov. 28. Vaccine mandateThe COVID-19 and influenza vaccine mandates will remain unchanged. All faculty, staff and students are required to have uploaded proof of vaccine or to have an approved waiver of the vaccine requirement. Mandated COVID-19 testing for those with an approved waiver will change from once per week to once every four weeks. Campus Daily ScreenerThe Campus Daily Screener will be used only to track vaccinations. Those who are compliant with the vaccine mandate will have a green screener. While anyone on campus can be asked to produce their screener result — including students asked to upload their screener or show it in class — we will no longer conduct routine screening at high-volume traffic areas, such as the Student Center Building, libraries, Mort Harris Recreation and Fitness Center, and the Welcome Center. The screener will no longer be used to track symptoms, and the symptom questions will be removed. We ask those who experience symptoms of COVID-19 to follow CDC guidelines for isolation and testing. Currently, these guidelines require self-isolation for five days following a positive test or the onset of symptoms. The Campus Health Center will no longer conduct contact tracing and will no longer report weekly COVID-19 cases and positivity rates on its website. Mask mandateThe CDC has now consistently noted that Wayne County is an area of medium transmission. In these circumstances, the CDC recommends that indoor mask use should be optional but that those at highest risk should consider wearing a mask. Accordingly, the university will extend the “mask optional” policy to all indoor spaces on campus, including classrooms and labs. Nonetheless, those at high risk are encouraged to continue to wear masks, and in classroom settings, individual faculty or students may ask others to wear masks. We strongly encourage you to comply with these requests when they occur. EventsEvents no longer require special approval by the Campus Health Committee. The Guest Campus Screener will be discontinued. Our ability to make these changes is due in large part to the care that members of the campus community have taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19. As a campus, we have thus far carefully weathered this public health crisis and are grateful for the cooperation of the campus community. Best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving and a strong end to the semester.
Laurie M. Lauzon Clabo, PhD, RN, FAAN
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