Dear Members of the Georgetown Community,
Following our March 5 message, we are writing to remind you to avoid travel and follow all public health guidelines during spring break.
Again, we strongly recommend that members of our community follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by avoiding travel and social gatherings to protect themselves and others from COVID-19. Travel increases the risk of being infected and of bringing the virus back to DC – especially the more transmissible variants – and could lead to a spike in cases that will endanger our community’s health and further delay a return to more on-campus activities. Instead, we encourage you to consider these spring break activities to decompress and stay connected with friends and family virtually instead of traveling.
Any community members who will be on campus between March 26 and April 4, and any students remaining in the neighborhoods of Georgetown, Burleith or Foxhall, must continue to get tested in accordance with the University’s COVID-19 Testing Protocol. Testing hours will operate on a slightly modified schedule, including reduced hours on Thursday, April 1, and new hours at the Leavey Center on Friday, April 2, and Saturday, April 3.
If you must travel, it is critical that campus-eligible students and non-emergency employees returning to DC from outside the DC, Maryland or Virginia (DMV) area begin self-quarantining upon return. You may take a test on campus within 24 hours of your arrival, but you must schedule another COVID-19 test three to five days after returning and continue to self-quarantine until you receive a negative result from that test, as this time period poses the greatest risk of community transmission. Social gatherings with individuals outside of your household during quarantine periods – even in small groups – were a large driver of COVID-19 cases following winter break.
All community members – regardless of vaccination status – who are eligible to come to campus and who travel over spring break also should restart completing the COVID-19 Daily Check-in survey each day upon their return and resume testing in accordance with the University’s COVID-19 Testing Protocol.
Community members who are eligible to come to campus should report any upcoming travel to the University through the GU360 Daily Check-in no later than March 24 to ensure you receive the proper quarantine guidance and, for student residents, food delivery.
Classes restart after spring break on Monday, April 5. We are planning for hybrid undergraduate classes to resume in person on Monday, April 12, on an in-person schedule determined by the faculty member. Graduate hybrid courses will continue in-person operations, with mode determined by the instructor for each course.
No matter where you are, whether you are immunized or not, it is critical that Every Hoya Everywhere do their part to contain the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19.
Sincerely,
Robert M. Groves, Provost
Geoffrey S. Chatas, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Ranit Mishori, M.D., MHS, FAAFP, Professor of Family Medicine, Interim Chief Public Health Officer