Important COVID-19 Update

Dear members of the Emerson community:

In the last day, we have seen a rise in the number of positive cases and close contacts within our community, which you will see reflected in our dashboard this afternoon. Overnight those cases included: 4 residential students, 4 off-campus students, 1 vendor and 1 faculty member. Contact tracing has been completed and those who are affected have been notified and are quarantining either at home or on-campus.

As part of our daily campus cleaning regimen, our facilities staff performed its standard cleaning of all spaces and completed a deep cleaning last night of classrooms and residential spaces. At this time, there is no indication that transmission took place on campus.

However, in order to ensure that the virus does not spread on our campus, the College will take several precautionary measures:

• Non-academic in-person student activities and gatherings will be prohibited for the remainder of the semester.
• End-of-class, academic related student activities should adhere to all state and department guidelines in the case of VMA.
• The Dining Center will offer grab and go at all stations and in person dining will be limited to one person per table.
• The Fitness Center at 52 Summer St will close for the remainder of the semester, beginning at 6 p.m. ET tonight.
• 172 Tremont remains open for individual room reservations but all group meetings will be canceled.
• The library will be available for socially distanced study only; reserved study spaces will also be available.

We encourage students to consider leaving their residence hall or off-campus residences only to:

• Attend classes, study in the library or in reserved study space, or perform required end-of-class, academic-related activities;
• Pick up food;
• Go outside for physically distanced exercise;
• Seek medical care;
• Participate in COVID testing; or
• Go to or from employment.

We further encourage students not to attend social events or gatherings on-campus or in the community.

The Testing Center will remain open and students are expected to adhere to having one test per seven days. If you need to change your test appointment you can do that by visiting testing.emerson.edu or on the Emerson App. Please remember: A negative test is a reflection of a moment in time and does not provide you with protection from the virus.

Note: Per the Governor’s November 18, 2020 guidance, students leaving Boston need to test within 72 hours of departure and produce a negative test. Should you test positive (or be identified as a close contact of a positive case) you will need to isolate (or quarantine) on campus or at your off-campus housing.

We have a few more days before departing for the semester and we encourage everyone to remain vigilant, wear your masks anytime you’re around other individuals and not alone in your private space, keep physical distance at all times, practice healthy hand hygiene, and continue to follow the testing protocol we have put in place.

Some students may wish to change their plans for the rest of the term/semester based on these new campus restrictions. Resident students should follow the directions shared in the Fall/Winter Closing Information you received on November 11 (link).

The College will continue to monitor the situation on-campus closely in the coming days and will inform you immediately of any additional measures that need to be taken.

As always, we will keep you informed of important updates and the impact of COVID-19 on our community.

Sincerely,
Erik Muurisepp
COVID-19 Lead
AVP, Campus Life