University Letter

UND's faculty and staff newsletter

Fall Semester plans regarding COVID-19

Dear Members of the UND Community,

I hope you’ve had a great summer and are looking forward to the fall semester in a few weeks.

We are watching the continued evolution of the virus that causes COVID-19 and the new variant, BA.5. It is reported that this is the most easily spread strain so far.

The best ways to protect yourself from infection are to get vaccinated and boosted and to continue your good hygiene by washing your hands frequently and thoroughly.

For those at risk, the CDC continues to recommend masking, particularly with an N95 or KN95 mask. And as always, if you are working with or speaking with another person and they ask to you wear a mask, please do so as a matter of courtesy and respect.

Since the onset of the pandemic, UND has tied COVID-19 mitigation strategies to local infection risk and hospital capacity. This practice will continue in the fall semester.

Fall plans

We are watching the latest variant’s trajectory, and we will seek to minimize disruptions to our fall semester operations and to protect high-risk individuals within our campus community. To achieve this, we will continue several standards we set after spring break:

  • There is no campus-wide mask mandate
  • Faculty members will have the option to require masks within their individual classroom or laboratory during the fall semester
  • Masks will be required in Student Health for patients who are ill
  • Plexiglas barriers currently installed in classrooms will remain in place– if you wish to have plexiglass installed or re-installed in the classroom, have your appropriate department representative contact Kevin Fruhwirth, associate director of facility maintenance, at fruhwirth@UND.edu
  • Consistent with North Dakota Department of Health recommendations, we will continue to ask those infected and close contacts who are unvaccinated to avoid campus during their five-day isolation period (for those infected) and five-day quarantine (for close contacts).
  • If you are a close contact or test positive for COVID-19, please follow UND COVID-19 procedures: https://und.edu/covid-19/index.html .

Subject to change

Because UND’s mitigation and mask policy has and will continue to be informed by local pandemic conditions, there may be changes to the policy in the future.

We all should look forward to this fall semester and the chance to come together as a community, to enjoy the sheer wonder of discovery and learning, and to have some fun.  Go Hawks!

With respect,

 

Andrew Armacost
UND President