Update on fall reopening procedures

This message is sent on behalf of Provost Rogan Kersh and Vice President of Student Life Penny Rue:

Dear Colleagues,

Deep thanks for your extraordinary efforts to prepare for the semester ahead. We write with an update to our reopening plans. As you are aware, we continuously monitor the evolution of COVID-19 in our community, in North Carolina and throughout the United States. In daily consultation with public health officials, we continue to make adjustments to our approach and fine-tune strategies to maximize health and better prepare for a successful semester.

Through these public-health consultations, we have concluded that a program of early identification of infection is a priority for undergraduates returning to campus. We have revised our decisions regarding pre-arrival testing and quarantine for undergraduates, as described in this message.

Note that in consultation with our public health team, we made the decision not to conduct pre-arrival required testing of asymptomatic and healthy faculty, staff and graduate students — which is consistent with the recommendations of the CDC (some graduate and professional school students erroneously received an email late Friday with instructions to request the testing kit, followed by a subsequent correction email). The decision to take a different approach for undergraduate students is a recognition of the fact that a large number of undergraduates will be residing and socializing together in University housing. To increase the likelihood of a successful fall semester for this shared residential community, the University determined that it would be prudent to require testing for this population of students.

Faculty and staff, along with undergraduate, graduate and professional students, will be asked to log daily symptoms on a website. Testing capacity is in place for any member of the WFU community who — through that daily symptom tracker, other medical advice, or individual concerns about possible exposure — needs to be tested. More details about this and other measures for faculty and staff will be shared soon.

We are so grateful for your continued partnership.

Sincerely,

Rogan Kersh
Provost

Penny Rue
Vice President of Campus Life