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Syracuse University will not require masks on campus, regardless of vaccination status, starting on Aug. 15, Vice Chancellor Mike Haynie announced in a campus-wide email Thursday.

Masks will remain required in locations mandated by the New York State Department of Health, such as health care facilities and public transportation, Haynie said. The university will also discontinue its color-coded masking system.

“Like many of our peers, the University’s approach to public health planning for the fall semester is grounded in the premise that—for the foreseeable future—COVID-19 will represent a concern that is endemic to life on a college campus,” he said. “For that reason, it is important that our management of COVID-19 on campus and within our community reflect that practical reality.”

The university’s protocols regarding vaccination will not change for the fall semester. The university will continue to require students and staff to receive an initial course of a vaccine along with at least one booster dose unless they have an approved exemption.

SU is also closing its testing center and ending mandatory COVID surveillance testing. Students who have symptoms of COVID-19 can access tests at the Barnes Center at the Arch while staff will have to use self-administered tests or find a location in the community.

At the beginning of the fall semester, the university will offer some free self-administered testing kits to students, faculty and staff and install vending machines that dispense self-testing kits at a subsidized cost, Haynie said. The university also plans to continue its wastewater surveillance testing program in the fall, he said.

“University leadership and the Public Health Team will remain focused and diligent with regard to monitoring the public health situation on campus and in our community,” the vice chancellor said.

The university is also monitoring developments relating to the monkeypox virus, according to the release. As of Thursday, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 1,341 cases of monkeypox, the majority of which are concentrated in New York City.

Onondaga County has not registered a case of the disease as of Thursday, according to the CDC.

“Like other communicable illnesses, such as the flu, our campus community will continue to face challenges stemming from COVID infections and illness,” Haynie wrote. “However, together we have successfully navigated those challenges in the past, and I’m confident we can do the same in the fall and beyond.”

Published on July 28, 2022 at 5:09 pm

Contact Kyle: kschouin@syr.edu | @Kyle_Chouinard