To: The Wellesley College Community
From: President Paula A. Johnson
Re: Thanksgiving Travel and Deadline for Required Flu Shots
Date: October 1, 2021
As we start to feel the first chill of fall in the air, I want to share that this year, with nearly all of our students vaccinated against COVID-19, students will be permitted to travel for the Thanksgiving holiday. In light of this, we are making some changes to class schedules and testing protocols to ensure that all students have a negative test before returning to in-person classes.
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Students will be able to travel over the Thanksgiving break, but they must be back on campus no later than 12 p.m. on Monday, November 29, so that they can take a COVID-19 test.
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Testing hours will be extended on Sunday, November 28, to accommodate returning students.
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All classes will be conducted remotely Monday, November 29, through Wednesday, December 1. This will allow returning students to be tested and receive confirmation of a negative test before attending in-person classes.
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In-person classes will resume on Thursday, December 2, and will continue through the end of the semester. All final exams will be in person.
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Students will be tested three times during the week of November 29.
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Faculty and staff who travel out of state will be required to test twice during the seven-day period after they return to campus, per the travel guidelines.
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Out-of-state travel for students is not allowed until the Thanksgiving holiday.
We appreciate that converting three days of classes to remote instruction may cause complications for some instructors and students, but we believe any temporary inconvenience is justified by considerations of health and safety. Thank you for your understanding and patience with this change.
In addition, students are required to get a flu shot and upload proof via Patient Gateway by November 15. Health Services provided by Newton-Wellesley Collegiate Health is offering flu shots at several upcoming on-campus clinics for students.
We strongly urge all faculty and administrative and union staff to be vaccinated against flu this season. Faculty and staff may register for one of our upcoming on-campus flu shot clinics for faculty and staff.
Thank you all for everything you are doing to keep our community healthy this fall.
