Fall semester COVID-19 guidance

Dear Members of the Yale Community,

Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its COVID-19 guidance to reflect important progress in our efforts to combat the pandemic. According to the lead author of the CDC report: “We’re in a stronger place today as a nation, with more tools—like vaccination, boosters, and treatments—to protect ourselves, and our communities, from severe illness from COVID-19…[w]e also have a better understanding of how to protect people from being exposed to the virus, like wearing high-quality masks, testing, and improved ventilation. This guidance acknowledges that the pandemic is not over, but also helps us move to a point where COVID-19 no longer severely disrupts our daily lives.”

With reference to this CDC guidance, the advice of Yale’s public health experts, and our own experiences over the past two and a half years, the university is also reviewing and refining its COVID-19 guidance for the fall semester. Like the CDC, our goal is to minimize disruption to our campus activities while keeping our community as safe as possible. Here are some highlights:

• Testing:
  • Other than arrival testing for students, routine asymptomatic COVID-19 testing will no longer be required for students, faculty, and staff—even if they are exempt from vaccination and/or boosters—except in certain schools and units where regular testing supports specific activities.  
  • Testing will continue to be required for those individuals who are identified as close contacts of persons with COVID-19, even if they are asymptomatic.
  • All members of the community are expected to isolate and test if they have COVID-19-related symptoms.
  • Symptomatic and asymptomatic PCR COVID-19 testing is now available through the Yale COVID-19 Testing Program’s recently implemented Color platform, which allows students, faculty, and staff to obtain and drop off test kits at kiosks around campus.
  • Students, faculty, and staff who test positive for COVID-19 outside of the Yale Testing Program are expected to notify the university so that they can receive advice about isolation and treatment.
  • Find out more about when to test and which test to use.    
• Isolation and Quarantine:
• CDC guidance and university policy continue to require that individuals who test positive for COVID-19 isolate away from others until they are released to return to class or work. Details about isolation are available on the Yale COVID-19 website. Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 are encouraged to contact their healthcare providers to determine if they are eligible for treatment.
• Close contacts of individuals with COVID-19 will no longer be required to quarantine, even if they are exempt from vaccination and/or boosters. Close contacts are still required to test and to mask when around others for 10 days following exposure.
• The university’s masking policy, which includes a requirement for masking in classrooms and instructional spaces, will remain in place for at least the first weeks of the semester as the campus “repopulates.”
• The masking policy will be reviewed early in the semester and revised, if indicated, in accordance with campus and local conditions and public health guidance.
• COVID-19 vaccination with a primary series and one booster is still required of all students, faculty, and staff unless they have approved medical or religious exemptions.
• Visitors are required to be up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines, as defined by the CDC.
• Masking:
• Vaccination:

Please consult the university’s COVID-19 website for complete and current information on all campus health and safety measures. The Campus COVID Resource Line (203-432-6604) remains available to answer any questions you may have.

Brief Updates

• Yale Health recently posted updated COVID-19-related guidance for individuals who are immunocompromised.
• As shared in a message earlier this month, the university is closely monitoring the global monkeypox outbreak. Additional information is now available on Yale Health’s website.

As we enjoy these last days of August and begin the new academic year, we look forward to engaging again in many of the activities and events that make our campus such an exciting and fulfilling place to be. Thank you for your partnership in keeping Yale as safe as possible—your unflagging diligence has enabled us to resume these activities and come together on campus.

Stephanie S. Spangler, MD
Vice Provost for Health Affairs and Academic Integrity
Clinical Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences
University COVID-19 Coordinator