A message from the Bring Huskies Home Team:
Dear Campus Community,
We have two updates to share with you. First, the CDC recently published new COVID safety guidance, based on “COVID-19 Community Levels”. These community levels (ranked at low, medium and high) are measures of three metrics by county. This information is available on the CDC website.
Second, Chancellor Malhotra has provided us with new guidance in his memo we received late yesterday afternoon (3/1/22). Per his guidance here is a summary of key points:
- Face Masking. Since we are still in the CDC’s “high” category we are not going to immediately lift the requirement for face coverings. We will monitor the situation next week and send a communication out to Campus at the end of next week.
- Vaccination/Testing. Starting Monday, March 14, there will no longer be a proof of vaccination or testing requirement for students living in residence halls or other activities designated by the college or university. The testing requirements for student athletes will remain in place. Testing requirements for those students who participate in internships and/or clinical experiences in which the clinical/internship site requires that those students either be vaccinated or test will also remain in place.
- Employee Attestation. For the time being, MMB HR/LR policy #1446 COVID-19 Proof of Vaccination and Testing for employees (including student employees), contractors, and vendors remains in place.
- Case Reporting. We will continue to report weekly on student and employee cases through the existing reporting process at least through the remainder of the spring semester.
- For domestic travel, approval of college/university sponsored domestic travel requests by students, faculty, or staff will revert to the existing campus process. For international travel for employees, campus presidents can continue to approve international travel to countries under a level 1 or level 2 travel advisory from the US Department of State. Travel to level 3 or level 4 countries will continue to require prior approval from the system office (System Procedure 5.19.3).
In closing, case counts on campus, in the community, and in the state continue to decline. St. Cloud State University will continue to monitor case counts and the COVID-19 Community Level in our area. Vaccination remains the most effective way to protect against severe illness from COVID-19, and St. Cloud State University encourages all members of the campus community to get vaccinated–and to get a booster shot if you have had your initial vaccination. Our primary goal is to protect the health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff as students strive to meet their educational goals.
Next Steps. We anticipate that the COVID-19 Community Level status in Stearns County will follow the pattern of declining cases that we have seen in other Minnesota counties and will move to lower levels. We will be back in touch at the end of next week with a decision about the date to lift the mask mandate and the details associated with implementing a new masking protocol and other updates to share.
The Chancellor’s memo in its entirety can be found here: Minnesota State Memo to Leadership Council (PDF)