Dear UMass Boston Community,
As we come to the end of the semester, we want to remind all members of the Beacon community to remain vigilant in monitoring your own health and taking precautions to stay safe as colder weather approaches.
In recent days, you may have seen reports of a rising COVID signal in the Boston wastewater, of the arrival of cold and flu season, and of a high number of cases of the RSV respiratory virus.
Please be assured that we continue to closely monitor relevant data and public health guidance. As it relates to COVID-19, Suffolk County’s CDC Community Level remains at “medium.”
We recommend the following at this time:
- Please consider wearing a mask indoors while on campus.
- Please continue to monitor your health on a daily basis. If you believe you may have contracted COVID, please stay home and get tested.
- Get your COVID booster shot (and your flu shot too)! Appointments are available at local pharmacies, and UHS is running flu and COVID vaccination clinics each week. Search for an appointment on My Health Beacon.
- Free on-demand testing remains available to the community at UHS. At home antigen tests and face masks remain available at UHS, Human Resources, EH&S, and the Campus Center Upper Level information desk.
- If you test positive for COVID, please follow university guidance including:
- Isolate according to CDC guidelines for a minimum of 5 days.
- Inform University Health Services. Employees should also inform their supervisor and students should consider notifying their professors.
- Make every reasonable effort to identify and inform potential close contacts.
Thank you to everyone in the community for continuing to be vigilant in following health and safety protocols and keeping our campus community safe. You can find additional information about policies and FAQs on the UMass Boston COVID-19 website.
Sincerely,
Robert Pomales, Executive Director of University Health Services
Marie Bowen, Vice Chancellor for Human Resources
