This story was updated on 6/7 to include a quote from Maylynn Hu (22Ox).
Starting June 7, fully vaccinated students will no longer need to “conduct regular asymptomatic screening testing,” Associate Vice President and Executive Director for COVID-19 Response and Recovery Amir St. Clair announced in a June 3 email to students. This change reverses previous guidelines stipulating that on-campus students must get tested weekly.
Students, faculty and staff who are not fully vaccinated by July 1 will be required to participate in weekly screening testing, University President Gregory Fenves announced earlier that day.
Maylynn Hu (22Ox), a student participating in research on the Atlanta campus this summer, said that the change will “take a bit of getting used to.” Hu tested twice a week during the spring semester and once a week during the summer.
Hu said that she is curious about the University’s plan in the case that someone does get sick with COVID-19 with the lack of mass testing.
“As much of a hassle the biweekly testing was, it was a good way to make sure they got to anyone who had tested positive very quickly,” Hu said. “Hopefully we can all stay really responsible and make sure that the switch to not mandatorily getting tested every week is a good one.”
Over the past few weeks, the Centers for Disease and Control Prevention (CDC) eased their COVID-19 guidelines, including lifting the mask mandate and social distancing recommendation for vaccinated individuals in most settings on May 13. The CDC also announced that younger campers who are not vaccinated generally do not need to wear their masks outdoors on May 28.
The University will transition from a yellow to a green operating status on July 1, St. Clair wrote. Although current mask guidelines remain in place, effective July 1, all campus spaces will return to normal density limits. Updates regarding gathering and visitor policies and study abroad operations will come in later weeks, the email noted.
Emory shuttles will also resume normal operations with full capacity. COVID-19 safety measures, however, will still be in effect, including daily shuttle disinfecting and the installation of bi-polar ionization units and MERV 7 HVAC filters.
Access to the Woodruff Physical Education Center, Student Activity and Academic Center and Blomeyer fitness facilities will be limited to those eligible for membership, with some areas requiring advanced reservations.
Both Fenves and St. Clair encouraged Emory community members who are not fully immunized to get vaccinated. Students who have been fully vaccinated need to upload proof of immunization to Student Health Services, for the Atlanta campus, or Oxford Student Patient Portal, for the Oxford campus.
To assist with vaccine distribution, Emory will host on-campus vaccine clinics starting at the end of June.
