Spring 2022 COVID-19 booster requirement and testing information

Lafayette Community,

Our commitment to the community is to remain safer together on College Hill. The science is becoming more clear regarding the role that COVID-19 vaccines, including boosters, will play in helping us navigate our campus experience. As we refine plans for the spring semester, it is very clear that remaining together as a community will require each of us to commit to using all the tools available to us, including vaccines, testing, and masking. 

• Vaccine booster: We recognize there is still much to learn about the way COVID-19 variants, including omicron, impact our communities. The evidence about the effectiveness of boosters in helping mitigate the impact is clear. We are joining the growing list of colleges and universities that require a COVID-19 booster with a deadline of Feb. 1, 2022. Learn more about booster requirements. 
• Testing: Our strategy will include pre-arrival and arrival testing for all students coupled with weekly monitoring tests for a segment of the population regardless of vaccination status. The mechanisms for pre-arrival, arrival, and weekly monitoring testing will be announced in January as we monitor the COVID-19 omicron variant. We will continue to require weekly testing of all unvaccinated members of the community (students, faculty, and staff). 
• Masking: Masking in classrooms and shared academic and administrative spaces will continue in the spring semester. As was our commitment throughout the fall 2021 semester, we will monitor the campus experience and make adjustments if possible but feel establishing this as the basic operational expectation is more transparent for our community.

Additional details and an FAQ will be shared with the community in early January. 

Our efforts continue to focus on strategies proven to be effective in managing our shared residential environment. We learned a great deal this fall and, even as details about COVID-19 and new variants emerge, feel confident in our ability to work together and stay safer together as a community.

Best wishes for a safe and enjoyable holiday season,

COVID-19 Action Group
covid-19@lafayette.edu