08/12/2021
By Steve O’Riordan
A key reason for our confidence comes from the UMass Lowell campus community’s vaccination rates. The COVID-19 vaccines remain our strongest tools to prevent severe disease or hospitalization and, as of last week, 95% of faculty and staff will be fully vaccinated by Sept. 1. (This is according to a survey with a 75% response rate.) Further, 82% of students enrolled for in-person classes are, or will shortly be, fully vaccinated, a number that has increased dramatically in recent days and continues to grow. In accordance with our policy, we expect all students to be vaccinated by the start of the fall semester, unless they qualify for a medical or religious exemption.
These numbers are incredibly encouraging, and we are grateful to all of you who, by getting vaccinated, are protecting the health of your colleagues and our communities. Thanks also to the many staff members who are performing the critical role of processing vaccination verifications.
Employee Vaccinations
In line with requirements at several UMass sister campuses and the President’s Office, all UMass Lowell non-union and part-time employees as well as vendors must be vaccinated, with exemptions issued only for qualified religious and medical reasons. Additional details will be sent to these employees on how to provide proof of vaccination.
The university is also in conversations with leaders of each of our unions, with the aim of requiring vaccinations, with similar accommodations, to reduce the chances of spreading COVID-19 to our colleagues, families and communities. We encourage our unions to join their counterparts at UMass Amherst and UMass Dartmouth, who have agreed to vaccine requirements. We remain hopeful that our entire community will come to understand and accept that vaccinations are our strongest mitigation strategy.
Student Vaccinations
As UMass Lowell announced in April, all residential and commuter students must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 prior to the beginning of the fall semester to live, learn or visit any UML campus or property. We have extended our deadline to Aug. 23, by which time all students must have uploaded proof of vaccination to the Student Health Services Patient Portal or have an approved religious or medical exemption.
Students will have to show proof of vaccination or receive an exemption before coming to campus to attend classes or live in a residence hall this fall. If you have not already done so, please submit your documentation as soon as possible to avoid any delays. Prior to submitting your documentation, or if you are unsure of your immunization record status, please review your record in the Student Health Services Patient Portal. An FAQ with additional information on student vaccination requirements is available on the COVID-19 website.
Face Coverings
While vaccines are the long-term solution to the pandemic, increasing evidence that the Delta variant can be spread by fully vaccinated individuals has changed the conversation around face coverings.
Consistent with new guidance issued by federal and state public health officials, face coverings will be required for all faculty, staff, students, vendors and visitors beginning Monday, Aug. 16 in nearly all indoor common spaces, including classrooms, instructional laboratories, meeting rooms, work areas, break rooms, hallways, elevators, restrooms and campus buses and shuttles. Face coverings are not required outdoors. An FAQ with additional information, including medical exceptions, is available on the COVID-19 website.
UMass Lowell will re-evaluate the need for face coverings in September, by which time we hope that there will be both increased vaccinations and a decline in the current wave of infections, which would allow us to relax this policy.
To facilitate effective instruction, UMass Lowell intends to permit fully vaccinated faculty members to not wear face coverings while teaching in-person classes, if they choose. This permission will depend on the status and direction of the current wave of infections in Massachusetts at the beginning of the semester, and may be rescinded, if necessary.
Additional Risk Reduction Efforts
All UMass Lowell campus community members are expected to continue conducting daily symptom checks and to stay home or in your residence hall room if you have symptoms. The university will also explore options for limited surveillance testing for unvaccinated employees and students with approved exemptions.
Throughout the pandemic, each of us individually and together as a university community have been forced to adapt as we learn more about COVID-19 and as the virus itself changes. While not perfect, the vaccines remain incredibly effective against severe disease and offer strong protection against COVID-19, especially among highly vaccinated populations and in combination with face coverings.
If we take actions that keep our health and the health of those around us in mind, we can limit the spread and move more quickly to the day when we can put this pandemic behind us. Thank you for your willingness to adapt for the benefit of all, and I look forward to seeing you on campus in just a few short weeks.