On June 4, 2021, the CDC issued updated guidance for institutions of higher education. The full guidance document is available at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/colleges-universities/considerations.html.
Key Points
This guidance supplements and does not replace any federal, state, tribal, local, or territorial health and safety laws, rules, and regulations with which IHEs must comply.
- This guidance provides resources that IHE administrators can use to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among students, faculty, and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- IHE administrators can help protect students, faculty, and staff and slow the spread of COVID-19, by encouraging vaccinations and using CDC’s Guidance for IHEs.
- IHEs can help increase vaccine uptake among students, faculty, and staff by providing information about COVID-19 vaccination, promoting vaccine trust and confidence, and establishing supportive policies and practices that make getting vaccinated as easy and convenient as possible.
- IHEs where all students, faculty, and staff are fully vaccinated prior to the start of the semester can return to full capacity in-person learning, without requiring or recommending masking or physical distancing for people who are fully vaccinated in accordance with CDC’s Interim Public Health Recommendations for Fully Vaccinated People.
- IHEs where not everyone is fully vaccinated will have a mixed population of both people who are fully vaccinated and people who are not fully vaccinated on campus which requires decision making to protect the people who are not fully vaccinated.
In addition, on May 28, 2021, the CDC has updated its guidance for people who are fully vaccinated. See Recommendations for Fully Vaccinated People.
WINAHEAD 