Masking in Indoor Campus Spaces and Current COVID Protocols
August 5, 2021
Dear Members of the Tuck Community,
Earlier this afternoon, Dartmouth leaders announced changes to COVID protocols on campus: the use of face masks in all indoor public spaces on campus regardless of vaccination status, and an anticipated increase in the frequency of COVID surveillance testing for all Dartmouth community members. These practices—layered on top of the College’s vaccination requirement—are being implemented out of an abundance of caution and to put us in the strongest public-health position possible to begin our school year.
Per the message from Interim Provost Kotz, College leadership will continue to revisit the indoor-masking requirement and is hoping to relax this requirement at the end of September. And in the coming days, we expect to hear more about the increased frequency of surveillance testing.
As we mask up and head into classrooms for Tuck Launch on Monday, I will reiterate from my message last week that access to Tuck classrooms for classes with faculty and students will be limited to those students who are fully vaccinated or who have an official exemption from the College. Tuck students who are completing their vaccine regimen but are not yet fully vaccinated will not be in densely populated indoor spaces in which they are unable to physically distance themselves. The MBA Program Office continues to work closely with students who are completing their vaccine regimen to guide them through the ways in which they can safely participate in curricular and co-curricular events until they are fully vaccinated.
Above and beyond vaccinations, masking, and testing, safely transitioning back to our distinct in-person learning community will continue to entail actions such as enhanced ventilation, cleaning of our spaces, and tracking of classroom seats to support contact tracing as needed.
Campus-wide COVID information is available at Dartmouth Together. Tuck COVID-19 information is available on the Tuck COVID-19 website. In addition to College leadership, the MBA Program Office, Paul Mutone—Tuck’s Chief Financial and Administrative Officer—and I will continue to provide timely updates as public-health guidance evolves.
Together we are learning how to emerge out of a pandemic—something none of us has ever done before. We are all at our own points in processing this global-health crisis. Empathy and respect for one another’s circumstances will be key to our collective success. I am confident that no other community can rise to this occasion the same way as ours.
I look forward to welcoming the terrific Tuck Class of 2023 masked and in-person at our Tuck Launch kick-off on Monday—and to the many new beginnings in the weeks ahead.
Dartmouth has formed a high-level task force to plan for and manage possible disruptions related to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, monitor federal and state recommendations, implement guidance, and communicate with our community.