In April, DU celebrated the vaccinations of more than 20,000 students. DU is now able to de-escalate its COVID-19 restrictions. The university also has a low on-campus positivity rate, and the COVID-19 cases have decreased in the surrounding community. This follows the update that all students and faculty are required to get the vaccine for fall quarter, and DU has expanded the vaccine eligibility.
On Monday, DU will be officially moving down to alert level green, which is campus access phase IV. This is loosening many COVID-19 restrictions that have been greatly impacting students’ daily life.
This shift to a green level includes: no mask requirements for specific outdoor events, an expansion on large event sizes, reduced testing for fully vaccinated individuals, increased occupancy limits and access to buildings and the resumption of field work and domestic travel.
More specifically, a face covering is not required if you are outdoors in a group of four or fewer. Students must still wear a face covering when indoors or if they are with a group of five or more individuals outdoors.
With graduation approaching, face coverings are required for both indoors and outdoors for the ceremonies on May 15 and 16 and June 10, 11 and 12. DU also asks for students and guests to wear a mask while on-campus for the Sturm College of Law graduation ceremony on May 22.
For every fully vaccinated student, their testing is reduced by 50%. Individuals are considered fully vaccinated after two weeks of a one-dose vaccine, such as Johnson & Johnson, or two weeks after the second dose of a two-dose vaccine, such as Moderna or Pfizer. This only works for students who have uploaded their completed COVID-19 vaccination card to the Health & Counseling Center through the myhealth portal.
Fully vaccinated DU personnel and students are now allowed to conduct research and field work. This can happen within private facilitates and homes, while following the up-to-date COVID-19 guidelines, like wearing face coverings indoors.
Residential students, members of the FSL community and high-contact staff are required to be tested once a week. Non-residential undergraduates will now be tested once every other week. Graduate students have to get tested once every four weeks, and faculty and low-contact staff is every six weeks.
The alert level green has also impacted the campus access and building occupancy guidelines. Starting on Monday, all campus buildings can be 70% occupied. Students who are cleared for campus can access all academic buildings during normal operating hours. Also, 80% of DU’s employees can return to campus after they have fully completed the campus access protocols. The Community Commons dining area can also be 50% occupied.
As for events on campus, a student must gain approval following the events protocol. Now, students can host an event with up to 100 individuals.
For any university business, domestic travel is allowed if it is properly budgeted and approved. All travel has to be booked through Concur Travel and Expense system or directly with Christopherson Business Travel. If you are not fully vaccinated, you have to quarantine before returning to campus.
DU’s updates to the COVID-19 protocols are subject to change based on the positivity rate on campus and in the surrounding community. Students must continue to socially distance, wear face coverings indoors, limit large gatherings and get tested according to their specified amount on PioneerWeb.
For any questions, email DU’s COVID-19 coordinator, Sarah Watamura at COVIDcoordinator@du.edu.
