At University of South Carolina, they are not requiring the vaccine but are testing kids. If you are positive, you have to quarantine and figure it out yourself. No quarantine housing!
As for the medically unable to vaccinate people on campuses, I would think they would mask up. They would be concerned about their health. It’s the people who make up bogus reasons to not get vaccinated who would likely not mask up and I say that’s up to them. If they get Covid, it’s their fault. Should have gotten vaccinated.
There will always be medically vulnerable people, but (with anything, not just COVID-19), such people need to check whether a college, business, or other entity that they interact with is a risk for them and what they need to do to mitigate such risks. Obviously, different colleges will have different policies in this respect.
But note that medical vulnerability is not necessarily permanent for an individual. For example, if someone has a strong allergy to polyethylene glycol and polysorbate-80, they cannot get any vaccine in the US, but that does not preclude the possibility of some other vaccine that later becomes available in the US, or is or becomes available in some other country (e.g. Mexico has given emergency approval to a number of vaccines available that are not available in the US) that does not have a problematic ingredient. Similarly, someone may be undergoing chemotherapy that happens to suppress immunity and makes vaccines less effective now, but may no longer be in that condition later.
from Tufts Why do we have to wear face masks indoors if we are fully vaccinated?
COVID-19 transmission occurs indoors. Although currently rare, fully vaccinated individuals can contract COVID-19 and we remain concerned about the risk to the community from variants. As a residential community in which people may spend significant time together indoors, we have decided to maintain a mask wearing mandate indoors for the fall. In addition, while we anticipate that the vast majority of our students, faculty, and staff will be fully vaccinated before the term begins, some will still be unvaccinated. It is our shared responsibility to help protect these individuals from the virus to the extent that we can. Fully vaccinated individuals can contract and potentially spread COVID-19. We ask for your grace and cooperation with this mandate.
Schools in some counties (including LA) in CA (and I expect more to follow) now require wearing masks indoors, even in cases where the vast majority (some as high as 95%+) of their staff and students are vaccinated.
I bet kids won’t cooperate. Honestly, I wouldn’t expect my kids to do so. I’d want to know exactly why those who aren’t vaccinated aren’t vaccinated. What will Tufts do about roommates? Put unvaccinated kids with unvaccinated kids?
This is not CDC guidance. The chances of a vaccinated person catching Covid is very low and then having a vaccinated person with enough viral load to give Covid to someone else is even lower. And maybe five percent of the students won’t be vaccinated? I just don’t get it.
LA county has always done it’s own thing - and is over the top and not following CDC guidance. This is why we crossed LMU off of D’s list. I didn’t think this crazy would make it’s way to Boston.
Will unvaccinated and vaccinated students share campus housing?
Yes, it is possible that unvaccinated and vaccinated students may be in the same room or suite, just as they may be in the same classroom, studio, or laboratory. We are confident that our arrival testing and subsequent surveillance testing will quickly identify any positive individuals among either vaccinated or unvaccinated students so that we can support them through an isolation period.
Why can’t you house unvaccinated students separately?
It would be against our community values to treat any individual differently based on their medical or vaccination status. Such medical information is by law confidential. Students who are granted an accommodation are protected by state law and the ADA and cannot be discriminated against or assigned to designated housing.
Curious as to whether athletes in indoor sports will have to wear masks during practice and/or competition. Not sure that would go over well, especially if the other team isn’t masked.
As for testing vaccinated people weekly…I’m pretty sure it will be a big deal when someone tests positive and is asymptomatic and still has to isolate for ten days and miss all their classes and labs.
Following new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), SUNY will now allow anyone who is fully vaccinated (two weeks after the final dose of any vaccine regimen) to conduct outdoor activities and gather outdoors without masks, except in certain crowded settings or venues.
If you are not yet fully vaccinated, you must continue to wear a mask at all times on campus, except when in your private residential space, when eating meals while seated and socially distanced, and when you’re by yourself.
***Masking will still be required in all classroom settings and at any commencement events.
Monmouth University in New Jersey is requiring students during the fall semester to mask up and confirm their vaccination status, according to the school’s updated COVID-19 guidelines.
The guidelines were posted on June 14 and state all students are required to be fully vaccinated for the fall semester and must continue to wear masks on campus. Faculty and students will be required to submit proof of their vaccination status using an online portal to upload documentation.
BU just announced all vaccinated students must wear masks Despite this new vaccine mandate, BU will continue to require mask-wearing, proper distancing and regular coronavirus testing once students return to campus in the fall. (Disclosure: Boston University holds the broadcast license for WBUR.)*
And is Tufts going to allow competition with other schools? Allow kids from other campuses on their campus? Where does it end?
I think it’s pretty easy to make unvaccinated kids mask up. Much easier to figure that out than to make everyone mask, test every week, and deal with the backlash of asymptomatic vaccinated kids, who did the right thing and go vaccinated. have to quarantine. It better not be for ten days. I thought ten days wasn’t even the right amount of time anymore and that quarantine was more like seven by the time spring of this year came around.
That timeline doesn’t to the delta variant. Apparently, the viral load in a person infected by the variant increases much more quickly and dramatically.
From Harvard
Here are the basics: With limited exceptions, Harvard will continue to require masks indoors, regardless of an individual’s vaccination status. This requirement will remain in place as we continue to get a better understanding of the level of vaccination across our community. This could change as we learn more. Masks are no longer required outdoors at Harvard for vaccinated individuals and can be removed by unvaccinated individuals as long as they can maintain physical distancing. We are still recommending that community members wear a mask outdoors in tight crowds or events, and we suggest that community members always carry a mask with them.
It’s not just Tufts. As you can see most schools are requiring mask indoors. Everyday we are seeing more and more “breakthrough” cases with the new variant. I think all schools will have an in classroom mask mandate by the fall.