Dear Staff and Faculty Colleagues,

Welcome back! We hope you enjoyed safe and healthy holidays, and are looking forward to spring semester.

As a campus community, everyone did a tremendous job of adhering to safety protocols that allowed for a very successful fall semester. We certainly hoped that we would be through the worst of the pandemic by now, and appreciate that the rise of the Omicron variant presents a challenging situation for all members of our community. If you have not already done so, please get your booster as soon as you are eligible and upload proof of vaccination booster. 

We will continue to monitor the situation between now and the start of the semester on Jan. 18. Please take note of the following important guidelines intended to get the spring semester off to the best possible start.

Testing

  • Remember to complete your home test before returning to campus.
  • Plan to drop off a saliva sample for asymptomatic pooled testing within the first five days of returning to campus following the winter break. Sample kits and the drop box for completed samples are located across from Wheelock 208.
  • Everyone who is working on campus and regularly interacting with others will participate in asymptomatic pooled testing once a week during the month of January. We encourage those who are not working on campus prior to the start of the spring semester on Tuesday, Jan. 18 to take advantage of free testing offered in the community, although we understand that the availability of asymptomatic testing is limited at some local testing sites. Please get a diagnostic test off campus if you are symptomatic or exposed to someone with COVID-19.

Limit Exposure to Others

  • Those who are working on campus must continue to wear masks and are encouraged to maintain social distancing, and wash hands frequently.
  • No large meetings or gatherings should occur at this time. Meetings should be conducted virtually whenever possible (in-person meetings should occur with no eating or drinking) until this high transmission period comes to a close. 
  • Faculty should prepare for the likelihood that the first week of classes will be conducted remotely. This will give us the opportunity to get all students back on campus and tested before gathering together in the classroom. 

Stay Home If You Are Sick

  • If you are already on campus and learn that you have been exposed to COVID-19, please contact contacttracing@pugetsound.edu for guidance. Do not come to campus if you feel ill, and leave campus immediately if you begin to feel ill.
  • Do not come to campus to utilize saliva testing if you are ill; seek the advice of a physician or test at a community testing site.
  • Please notify your supervisor or department/program area head and CHWS if you are diagnosed with COVID-19, so that operational adjustments can be made, contact tracing can be completed and we can accurately reflect the presence of COVID-19 in our community on the COVID-19 dashboard.

Students are required to participate in rigorous gateway testing upon their return to campus; they will receive further guidance tomorrow via email, which will also be posted on the university’s website. Please visit pugetsound.edu/coronavirus for current information. 

Additional guidance will be provided as it becomes available. Thank you for everything you are doing, and continue to do, to support our students and one another.

Sincerely,

Isiaah
Isiaah Crawford, Ph.D. | President