Spring 2022 return to campus update

The following message was sent to the Ohio University community on January 5, 2022.

To the Ohio University community:

Welcome back from winter break. I hope that, like me, you are excited to be back and ready to tackle the spring semester! 

I want to assure you that OHIO is fully committed to a robust student experience this Spring, including in-person classes and increased events and activities across our campuses. 

At the same time, we continue to consult with state and local public health officials in our targeted approach to help ensure the safety and security of our campuses and communities as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. It’s important that – to a person – we remain vigilant in following public health guidelines and the University’s COVID-19 Protocol to help keep the virus at bay. 

January is the most important time for us as we come back together after the break. Please follow our updated health protocols as we work together to keep our University community as healthy as possible

I am proud to see our vaccination rates continue to rise across campuses, and I have the utmost confidence in the testing, isolation and quarantine protocols put into place by the University’s COVID Operations team.
Here are some key points to remember as you return this Spring: 

• It’s important that we continue to mask indoors and on public transportation, and when entering, exiting, or standing in line to enter an indoor campus facility. Masks are required in these settings on all OHIO campuses. We also ask that students, faculty, and staff refrain from eating in classroom spaces and the library to help stop the spread of disease. 
• We are requiring all Athens-based students to test before returning to campus this spring, and we encourage regional students and all faculty and staff to take an asymptomatic COVID-19 test before returning to activities on our campuses. It is important to use the testing mechanisms put into place by the COVID Operations team and not another provider.
• We also ask all students, faculty and staff to upload their vaccination or booster record to avoid quarantine if exposed to the virus. 
• I encourage staff who can work remotely to do so for the next couple of weeks, if possible, to help reduce density on our campuses as we navigate the recent increase in local, state, and national COVID-19 cases due to the high transmission rate of the omicron variant. 

It’s important to remember that the COVID Operations team is here to help, so please reach out to them with questions.

Thank you in advance for doing your part to keep yourself and others safe as we approach an exciting spring semester! I look forward to seeing many of you next week! 

Dr. Hugh Sherman,
President