COVID Weekly Update to the Community
January 17, 2022
Dear Members of the HWS Community,
As we welcome students back to campus this week, we write to update you on COVID testing requirements. All students are required to test before arriving to campus and immediately upon arrival. Thus, some students may be unable to attend class if their entry PCR test results have not arrived or if they have a positive test result directly before or after arriving on campus. We ask for faculty flexibility around student attendance during the first few days of the semester.
The Deans’ offices are prepared to send notices out to the relevant faculty about students who need to isolate, but if there is a high number, there could be a delay in getting those notices out. The Deans’ offices will not be able to send a notice if a student has test results still pending, so we ask students to email their faculty directly if they need to miss class due to pending test results or isolation. We expect that students will diligently work through this process, as will the deans and Campus Life staff.
The Colleges will continue to require face coverings inside all buildings as we did in the Fall, given the extension of NY’s HERO Act at least through Feb. 1, and likely afterwards until positivity rates decrease sufficiently in the area. While we strongly encourage the safest masks possible (e.g., KN95 or N95), we recognize that for some community members, other options, such as surgical masks or double masking with a cloth mask and surgical mask may be preferred. Surgical masks will be available at the testing site this weekend and the Colleges are working to make additional masks, including KN95 and/or N95 masks, available through the Campus Safety Office as the semester commences.
As always, we appreciate your continued flexibility around our measured approach to keeping our campus safe. Please feel free to contact any of us with specific questions in the days ahead, and stay warm through this winter weather!
Sincerely,
Sarah Kirk, Provost and Dean of Faculty
Becca B. Barile, Vice President for Campus Life and Dean of Students
Scott Brophy, Dean of Hobart College
Lisa Kaenzig, Dean of William Smith College