To: Wellesley College Students
Cc: Faculty, Staff, and Families
From: President Paula A. Johnson and Sheilah Shaw Horton, Vice President and Dean of Students
Re: Update to Student COVID-19 Testing Schedule
Date: September 2, 2021
It is wonderful to see students starting to return to campus this week! We wish you all safe journeys as you travel to Wellesley, and we will be waiting to welcome you.
We are committed to having a strong and safe start to the semester, so we have made some adjustments to our health and safety protocols. These include reinstating mask wearing when gathering in common spaces in residence halls and limiting out of state travel through fall break.
Unlike last year, students will be permitted to take classes at MIT, Olin, or Babson, see friends off campus, and enjoy all that Boston has to offer. However, we know that these activities are not without risk: Data from several peer institutions this summer showed that the majority of positive COVID-19 cases resulted from off-campus gatherings and activities where students were unmasked. Therefore, we ask that students continue to wear masks indoors while off campus and take appropriate precautions.
We have also decided to continue to test students twice weekly. We will re-evaluate this decision in mid-October. We realize this is a change, but it is an important one that will let students spend time off campus while allowing us to identify positive cases quickly to keep our campus community safe. The information we’ll gain from the increased frequency of testing will help us decide whether to extend our existing health and safety guidelines, including rules on masking in the residence halls and off-campus travel, or begin to relax them. We want to make clear that the increased frequency of testing does not prevent COVID-19 and does not permit students to engage in behaviors that increase the risk of contracting or spreading COVID-19.
To provide students with convenient and regular access to testing, we are expanding testing to seven days a week beginning Sunday, September 12. This means that a student who receives a positive pooled test result any day of the week can be retested the next day. This schedule will also be available for faculty and staff.
You can express your preference for testing days schedule. Please be aware of the following:
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On your testing days, you can test at any time without an appointment.
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Testing will take place from 7 to 11 a.m. and 12 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at both the College Club and Beebe.
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On Saturdays, testing will be available from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the College Club. These times are for retesting only, or for students who may have missed testing earlier in the week.
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On Sundays, testing will take place from 12 to 4 p.m. at the College Club and Beebe.
We are confident that students will do their best to follow our testing protocols. However, students who miss two tests in a week or do not retest in a timely manner place the community at risk, and as a result the College will turn off their OneCard access until they test. The OneCard access will be a reminder to students that they need to go to the testing center right away. If the testing center is closed, the student will need to contact the Community Director on Call to regain card access. More details on how this will work will be shared during the All Hall meetings.
Thank you for your patience and understanding that changes and adjustments are a necessary part of managing during a pandemic. The pandemic is very dynamic, and we are determined to put a regimen in place that allows for a vibrant student experience while also ensuring that we don’t let anyone slip through the cracks, while giving us information we can use to protect the health and safety of our community.
