Fall Semester Information

All students, faculty, staff, and certain visitors age 6 months and older (see full Safety Plan for details) must be vaccinated (initial one- or two-dose regimen). Acceptable vaccines include those approved for use in the U.S., accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or on the World Health Organization Emergency Use List (EUL).

Students whose coursework is fully online and who will not be on campus for any reason may request an exception. Please reach out to the Student Health Center at 585-475-2255 to request an online exemption. Students should note that any exception granted is only for the COVID-19 vaccination and not for any other required immunizations.

All students, faculty, staff, and certain visitors age 6 months and older (see full Safety Plan for details) must be vaccinated (initial one- or two-dose regimen). Acceptable vaccines include those approved for use in the U.S., accepted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or on the World Health Organization Emergency Use List (EUL).

Certain extended visitors (see full Safety Plan for details) must be vaccinated (initial one- or two-dose regimen). Extended visitors are defined as individuals who are (will be) physically on the RIT Campus for more than 6 consecutive days or more than 10 days in a rolling 4-week period. This does not include contractor/supplier employees whose work areas are physically (utilizing construction fencing, or construction barriers) separated from the campus population.

Individuals that are (will be) physically on the RIT campus for more than six consecutive days or more than 10 days in a rolling four-week period are required to be fully vaccinated. Ensuring compliance with this requirement is the responsibility of the Contractor/Supplier and the sponsoring department.

Prospective students and families coming onto campus solely for purposes of visiting and/or touring the campus are not required to be fully vaccinated unless they meet the definition of extended visitor. (Extended visitors are defined as individuals who are (will be) physically on the RIT campus for more than six consecutive days or more than 10 days in a rolling four-week period.)

No.

RIT students must provide proof of full vaccination by logging onto the RIT Wellness Portal.

Current RIT employees will need to provide proof of full vaccination in Oracle Employee Self-Serve and attach appropriate documentation. Any new employees/adjuncts will share their vaccination information with their hiring manager, who will fill out the Proof of Vaccination form and send it to hr@rit.edu.

Only medical and religious exemptions will be allowed. Employees who are unable to receive the vaccine for specific medical or religious reasons can follow the employee request for accommodation process. Students unable to receive the vaccine for specific medical or religious reasons can follow the exemption process through the Student Health Center. Visitors are not eligible for an exemption.

The booster requirement continues to be suspended indefinitely. We are monitoring the development of new boosters. We will evaluate future requirements based on how the virus progresses.

COVID-19 vaccines help protect against severe illness, hospitalization and death. The vaccines also help protect against infection. People who are vaccinated may still get COVID-19, but they are much less likely to experience severe symptoms than people who are unvaccinated.

Although the university does not require return-to-campus testing, we recommend that all students test prior to their departure to campus. This will help to ensure we have a smooth start to the fall semester.

We will continue with our wastewater surveillance program as it provides an early warning of changes in COVID-19 trends within our campus community.

Students who test positive for COVID-19 should upload your test result or image of your home test to the Student Health Center. You will receive self-care instructions for isolation which you may share with faculty or employers as needed.  As is the case for all illness, there is access to our health professionals through  telehealth and in-person student health services as needed. Currently, CDC and Monroe County Department of Public Health isolation is a minimum of five days, with day 0 as the day of symptom onset or positive test, whichever came first. Isolation may be longer if symptoms persist. Masking is recommended for an additional 5 days. More information is available on the Quarantine and Isolation webpage.

Employees should contact their primary care physician for guidance and follow the COVID-19 Symptom/Exposure/Absence Process Information for Employees on the HR website for details on reporting requirements related to COVID-19.

Test when there are any symptoms, even mild, that may be COVID related e.g. fever, headache, body aches, nausea, congestion, sore throat or loss of smell. WEAR A MASK until feeling better and have 2 negative tests.

• If positive, see the Quarantine and Isolation page.
• If negative, retest in 48 hours even if you are feeling better.

Also consider testing prior to events involving close contact with others and 5 days after to reduce spread from those large events.

Insurance companies are required to provide 8 tests monthly to each member. Contact your pharmacy to see if you can order directly through them. Some insurers may require you to purchase tests over the counter and submit receipts to them for reimbursement.

Individuals are eligible to receive 8 free at-home COVID tests through the federal government. Free tests can be ordered through the USPS website where you will enter your contact and shipping information to receive your free tests.

There are two primary factors to consider in a mask. The first is the layers of protection in the mask.  N95, KN95, KF94 offer the most protection. Surgical masks are also quite good.  Many layers of cloth are better than a single layer.

The second factor to consider in a mask is the fit. It should snuggly cover your nose and mouth so that there is little air entering or exiting from the edges of the mask.  With a good fit, glasses should not fog.

Students are responsible for notifying professors that they are unable to attend due to illness. For COVID isolation, the secure message sent by the health center may be shared if documentation is needed. Faculty will work with each student to ensure academic continuity.