Dear Student,
We hope you are having an enjoyable and restorative winter break, and we are looking forward to welcoming you back to Tufts for the spring semester. The university shared important information with you on January 2 regarding our updated COVID-19 testing, isolation, and quarantine protocols. Today, we are writing to share additional information specific to the School of Arts and Sciences (including SMFA at Tufts) and the School of Engineering.
We will begin the semester as scheduled on Wednesday, January 19, 2022 but with temporarily modified operations. The most significant change is that course modalities will be virtual through Friday, January 21. The first day of in person instruction will be Monday, January 24.
Please know that we have developed these plans in consultation with our public health experts, administration, faculty, and campus partners with the goal of returning to full operations as soon as it is safe to do so.
Arriving at Tufts
We require that you get tested immediately upon arrival on campus and limit close contacts as much as possible until you have received a negative test. Whether you live on- or off-campus, please stock up on plenty of your favorite snacks, beverages, and non-perishable food items in case you need to quarantine unexpectedly. Specifically, students who are eligible for a COVID vaccine booster but who have not yet received it and are a close contact of someone who is positive will be required to quarantine in their rooms. All testing will be individual PCR testing rather than pooled tests. Your testing cadence will be 3 times per week until further notice.
If your permanent residence is within driving distance of Tufts, please help us reduce the strain on our testing, isolation housing, and health service teams by delaying your return to campus. This would allow students who live further away to arrive and test first. We would greatly appreciate your starting the semester from home on January 19 and returning sometime at your convenience before January 24.
Isolation and Quarantine Following a Positive Test
Here is what you need to know about isolation and quarantine during this time:
- Based on revised CDC and Mass Department of Public Health guidance, students will isolate for a minimum of five (5) days from the date of a positive test. However, the actual duration of isolation will be determined by your health care provider and will be based on your symptoms as well as evolving public health and university guidelines.
- Students who test positive will receive an email message with further instructions. Please wait until our clinicians reach out to you with more details before trying to contact us. A member of our team will also check in with students regularly during their isolation to see how they are doing.
- Students who live off campus will isolate in their off-campus residence.
- Students with campus housing who test positive and who can return to their permanent home address without the use of public transportation will be required to do so to complete their isolation at home. This will preserve isolation spaces in the Mods for students with campus housing who cannot return to their homes without getting on a plane, train, bus, or other form of public transit.
- All other students with campus housing who test positive will be required to isolate in the Mods or other alternative housing (including area hotels) until those options reach capacity.
- If the Mods and other alternative housing options become full, students with campus housing that live in a single room will isolate there, including students living at the Hyatt. Should this become necessary, there will be a gender neutral bathroom designated in each residence hall for use only by COVID positive students in isolation. Healthy students will need to use other rest rooms in the building that may not be on the floors on which they live.
- Students isolating in the Mods will continue to order meals via the Dining App and have them delivered unless we reach a point at which students who test positive and have single rooms need to isolate in the residence halls. At that time, we will designate pick up locations to facilitate distribution of meals. Students isolating in alternative housing will order meals via UberEats credits and will be provided transportation to and from their assigned housing.
- If we need to begin isolating positive students with single rooms in the residence halls, meals will be ordered via the Dining App but will need to be picked up at distribution centers located on campus. They may also ask a friend to collect and deliver their meals to them following safety protocols (wear a mask at all times; leave the meals outside the friend’s door; do not enter the room).
Close Contacts
Close contacts of those who test positive may be required to quarantine based upon their vaccination and booster status. Specifically, non-boosted students who are a close contact will be required to quarantine in their rooms. If you have not submitted your booster information to Tufts, you will be considered non-boosted and must quarantine until the information has been received and confirmed. You can submit your proof of being boosted on our Secure Portal.
If you are told by a Tufts health care provider that you must quarantine, you must follow these instructions. For students living in residence halls or off-campus apartments, this means staying in your bedroom.
Students in quarantine living on campus may only leave their room to use the lavatory, pick up food in the dining hall, or participate in surveillance testing and then must immediately return to their room. See quarantine information for students living either on-campus or off-campus. Individuals in quarantine will continue routine COVID surveillance testing as established by the university and or as directed by a healthcare provider. If you are in quarantine, you cannot attend class in person, visit labs, studios, libraires, or attend any other in-person gatherings, including student organization activities, and so forth.
Dining
Food service at on-campus dining centers will be grab-and-go only until further notice. Eating and drinking during in-person meetings, events, and gatherings is not allowed until further notice. However, eating is permitted in dining halls and other designated spaces across campuses, which are well-ventilated and where there will be plenty of room to spread out. Be sure to wash/sanitize your hands and clean/disinfect the area where you are eating before and after meals. Additional information for dining in residential spaces will follow.
Other Campus Operations
Here is a summary of the adjustments we will be making to other campus resources, facilities and operations during this period.
- Masks must be worn at all times including in residence hall suites, break rooms, residential halls, and off-campus apartments. Cloth masks are no longer allowed at Tufts. Disposable, 3-ply masks are available throughout the campus and should be replaced daily or if they become dirty, whichever comes first.
- All campus buildings and facilities, including the Mayer Campus Center, Tisch Library, and art galleries will be open.
- Laboratories and studios will remain open, including SMFA studios. However, please avoid gathering in these spaces.
- On campus study spaces are not available for reservation. Please study in your own room and do not gather in groups.
- Goddard Chapel will be open.
- The Fitness Center will be closed until further notice. Varsity athletes will be allowed to continue their training programs.
- In-person student organization events, social gatherings, and other in-person events may occur in person providing mask guidance is strictly followed. Events should be in a room that is large enough for attendees to spread out. There is no eating or drinking at events. Please consider holding your meetings virtually.
Putting Our Decision into Context
While these short-term measures will cause some challenges, we aim to prevent potentially greater disruption that could threaten our ability to complete this semester in person. Although the COVID-19 vaccines and boosters are preventing serious illness in most individuals, the emergence of the highly transmissible Omicron variant requires us to implement these temporary measures to hopefully mitigate its impact on you as well as our staff and on our campus operations in the long run.
Taking action now to limit COVID exposure and illnesses among students, faculty, staff and their families may help us avoid serious disruptions to campus life and operations during the current surge, which is expected to subside by early February. In addition, we want to do all that we can to protect the medically vulnerable individuals within the Tufts community and in our host communities of Somerville, Medford, and Boston.
We understand that there will be different opinions on what the best path forward for Tufts should be right now. The decisions we are making will garner praise from some quarters and critiques from others.
Thank you for your understanding, patience, and cooperation during these difficult times. We are optimistic that with these temporary measures we will be able to weather the current COVID surge and return to in-person instruction on January 24.
Camille Lizarríbar, JD, PhD
Dean of Student Affairs and Chief Student Affairs Officer for AS&E
Michael R. Jordan, MD, MPH
University Infection Control Health Director, Associate Professor of Medicine
Marie Caggiano, MD, MPH
Medical Director, Health Service
