(Part 1 of 2)

September 7, 2022

Dear parents and guardians of Yale College students,

I am writing to bring you up to date on two changes to COVID-19 planning.

The first is that Julie Sweigard will be succeeding me as Yale College’s health and safety leader. In that role, she will keep students up to date about public health changes that affect them. She will also write to you about those changes so that you are up to date as well.

The second is that our practice for isolating infected students is changing because housing for them is nearing capacity. We have begun instructing all on-campus students who test positive to isolate in their bedrooms, whether they have single bedrooms or share doubles with other students. This is a departure from our previous practice, which called only for students in single bedrooms to isolate in place. Roommates who test negative have the option of moving to temporary housing.

Julie Sweigard wrote to students today, and the details of this change are available in her message, which I forward, below. Please also remember that you can always find the most current COVID-19 information on the university's COVID-19 website.

With best wishes from New Haven --

Melanie Boyd
Dean of Student Affairs
Senior Associate Dean, Yale College
she | her | hers

(Part 2 of 2)

September 7, 2022

Dear students,

I am writing in my role as Yale College’s Health and Safety Leader (HSL) to bring you up to date on a few important changes to COVID-19 planning. Previously, Dean Melanie Boyd wrote to you with these updates; I will be sending them to you now that I have succeeded her as HSL.

Going forward, if you test positive for COVID-19, you will isolate in your bedroom, whether you have a single bedroom or share a double with another student. This is a departure from previous practice, which called only for students in single bedrooms to isolate in place.

If you are a roommate of a student who is isolating in place, you will take a rapid test as soon as your roommate tests positive. If you also test positive, you will also isolate in your double room.

If you test negative, you will have the option of remaining in your current living situation if you wish or of relocating to temporary housing. In either case, you will take two additional PCR tests over the following five days and follow the guidance for students who are close contacts.

You will receive instructions directly from the public health team if you are in any of the categories above, but here are some answers to questions that might come up right away:

• Meals will be available for you for pickup in the dining hall if you are isolating in place. You should eat them in your room.
• Bathroom policies will not change. Transmission rates in bathrooms are very low, and the existing policies have been adequate, in past semesters and the current one, in managing the number of students in single bedrooms who were or are isolating.
• If you are a roommate who has the option, described above, of staying in your current living situation or of relocating, you will be able to communicate your choice when the public health team writes to you.

This is a good time to remember that you can reduce the risk of infection by wearing a face mask at large events, and that masks are required in certain environments, including classrooms, campus transit, clinical settings, and certain performances and athletics events. And of course you are encouraged to wear a mask anywhere.

Please also remember that booster shots are now available, as Dr. Stephanie Spangler wrote to you yesterday.

Sincerely,

Julie Sweigard
Health and Safety Leader, Yale College
Director of Administrative Affairs, Yale College