The message below was sent by Eleanor JB Daugherty, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs & Dean of Students, to students on all campuses on January 14, 2022
Subject: We're Getting There: Opening and Staying Open
Hi there Huskies,
As always, thank you for being patient as we wait for this surge to pass. I wanted to update you on the incredible work my colleagues and I have done over the course of the past two weeks. Huge thanks to the students and colleagues who met with me this week and participated in the town hall to determine how we can adjust to support you during the next two weeks.
UConn is many things to us and I know many of us are disappointed about the delay to returning to in-person learning. Let’s discuss what that will mean for the next few weeks:
Our Community:
Whether in person or apart, we are always together as a community. Our campuses will open in red.
UKindness has been updated today to reflect the many opportunities for us to be together. Whether it’s small in-person activities, virtual fitness classes, or trivia nights, we are here and eager to see you. Our campuses are open if you need study spaces. Our spaces will be observing physical distancing and requiring masking. We will not be holding any large in-person activities. Check this out for more information on activities while we are in red.
Oh yes, the ice rink is returning to Storrs. More on that later. J
Our Health:
We will work together to keep our campuses safe and healthy. It will not be perfect and there will be a greater presence of illness, but we will face it together and take every measure to identify, treat, and contain illness. Testing is back for those students, vaccinated or not, who have not been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the last 90 days. Confirmation of COVID-19 is indicated through a positive PCR or at-home antigen test.
Pre-Arrival testing: We really need you to obtain and upload the results of a COVID test (PCR or at-home antigen) within 72 hours of arrival to campus. Residential students who test positive should not travel to campus and will complete their isolation at home. At-home tests can be ordered through Amazon or purchased locally and will be accepted by SHaW. Please refer to the SHaW website for instructions on how to upload at-home antigen test results. Students who are approved to live on campus during the online period do not need to obtain pre-arrival testing.
Arrival testing: UConn will provide arrival testing to students on all campuses who have not been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the last 90 days. More information to come on how those tests will be distributed upon your arrival. Students who are approved to live on campus during the online period do not need to obtain arrival testing.
Monitoring: Students exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms should obtain a test as advised by their medical provider. Students who received a positive PCR or antigen test must observe at 10-day isolation period. Students who test positive on arrival will be expected to return home to complete their 10-day isolation period. Isolation housing will be provided for students who are unable to return home.
Guidance for recent Close Contacts with a COVID-19 positive case: Students who are identified as a close contact through contact tracing (either DPH or SHaW), vaccinated and boosted when eligible, will not need to observe quarantine. Students who are vaccinated and eligible for a booster but not boosted or unvaccinated will need to observe a 10-day quarantine, including not attending in-person classes for five days and other restrictions for another five days. Household contacts with an ongoing exposure may have longer quarantine periods.
Booster Vaccines: The best way to stay healthy and avoid being subject to quarantine after a COVID-19 exposure is to arrive on campus up-to-date on all required COVID-19 vaccines. That means getting your booster as soon as you are eligible. Booster compliance should be uploaded to the SHaW Patient Portal (with thanks to the 10,000 of you who have already done that!).
Our Home:
This weekend, we will welcome students to the Stamford and Storrs residence halls who needed housing during the remote learning period. I’m pleased that we were able to provide housing to the vast majority of students who requested it. No one was denied who was facing housing insecurity or a demonstrated significant hardship.
During the town hall on Monday, I was asked about cancellations from housing. In response: students can be released from their on-campus housing contract without penalty if all of their course modalities are changed to remote learning. Students in this situation must submit a contract release form by February 14, 2022 and must supply evidence that their classes are entirely remote. Students who have moved onto campus will be charged a daily rate for the days between their move in date and the date they remove their belongings and return their room key.
The remainder of our residential students are currently scheduled to return on Jan. 29. That is our plan. I’m really, really committed to it. We are eager to welcome you back and we will inform you if there is any change to that plan.
This is a lot of information, so we are going to stay in touch through emails like these. I know it’s frustrating to navigate a return to what we care about most – being in person on our campuses - when we keep fielding curve balls from COVID and its many variants.
I know that it’s hard, and it’s natural to doubt the ‘administration’ that tiles your screen to share news that I know is disappointing. Yet we care. So much. And we are working hard to bring you back soon.
See you soon,
Eleanor JB Daugherty, EdD
she/her/hers
Associate Vice President and Dean of Students
For more information, contact: Janice Canniff at janice.canniff@uconn.edu