Author: Anna Gonzalez

Although the situation has changed significantly since the pandemic began in spring 2020, we know COVID-19 remains widespread in our region, across the country, and around the world, and we continue to closely monitor conditions. Based on current levels of transmission in St. Louis and in consultation with our team of medical advisors, we plan to take the following steps for fall.

Starting today and for the next two weeks (through April 15), we are strongly encouraging students to wear masks at all in-person gatherings, including in the classroom.

At this time, we feel it is safe to begin pulling back some of our COVID mitigation efforts on campus, and are making the following changes to our masking policy.

While we remain hopeful that the situation will improve as the semester progresses, at this time we feel it’s necessary to take a somewhat cautious approach at first.

We want to share some additional instructions for completing your COVID-19 pre-arrival and entry testing. Please read the following information carefully.

In last week’s message with updates to our plans for the start of the spring semester, we said we would get back to you this week with more information about COVID-19 pre-arrival and entry testing. Please pay close attention to the following instructions.

I am writing today with a brief reminder that in order for us to ship your COVID-19 Pre-Arrival Home Test to the correct address, you need to update your address in WebSTAC by end-of-day TODAY.

As always, our highest priority continues to be the health, safety and well-being of our campus community. With that in mind, we’re writing to share a number of changes that will impact our return to campus for the spring semester.

This week, we have seen a rise in COVID-19 cases among vaccinated students. In the majority of instances, these cases are a result of gathering together in groups, off campus, and unmasked. We know the requirements we have in place can feel restrictive, but we must continue to adhere to our COVID-19 public health guidelines.

COVID-19 is still with us. We cannot let our guards down and I wanted to share with all of you some important reminders about safety.