Updated Aug. 5, 2021 (1:52 p.m.)
Dear students:
We hope you are enjoying the summer. We are really looking forward to welcoming both our returning and new students to campus in a few short weeks. First, know we remain committed to an in-person fall semester and appreciate how important interactions with classmates and other members of the community are to your experience. While the age range of 18-22 has typically suffered less serious consequences from COVID-19 infections, our campus exists within a broader community and we are sure you will understand that some planning and protocols may need to be adjusted as variants of the virus emerge. The high vaccination rate within our community is incredibly helpful. Still, we must remain vigilant.
As part of this vigilance and due to the fact that Northampton County and surrounding areas are seeing substantial and increasing spread of new COVID-19 cases, effective immediately all members of the community are required to wear a mask inside campus buildings when in shared spaces (except for students when in residence halls). Our current plan is to mask indoors through at least the first two weeks of the fall semester as we continue to review county data and monitor our own COVID-19 cases with the goal of easing indoor masking protocols for our vaccinated population sometime in September.
We will hold a student and parent town hall from 5-6 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 11 to answer any questions regarding the in-person semester that begins later this month. Please register in advance. In the meantime please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.
Sincerely,
Lafayette’s COVID-19 Action Group
covid-19@lafayette.edu