Our Continued Plans for a Rewarding and Safe Fall Semester

August 11, 2021

Members of the Rutgers Community:

As we begin the final preparations for our fall semester, the dynamic nature of the COVID-19 pandemic may be causing some understandable anxiety. I want to communicate directly with our community to express my expectations as well as reinforce the steps we have taken in order to mitigate risk of exposure to COVID-19. You will receive an e-mail each of the next few weeks with any updates to our status.

CO-EXISTING WITH COVID: It is now a reality that COVID-19, in some form, will exist for the foreseeable future, and we must now find ways to co-exist or risk living in a state of paralysis. I understand that with the emergence of the delta variant, which is much more contagious than earlier strains, many may have concerns with respect to repopulating our campuses. I empathize with the worry that this may cause and want to reassure you that, although no plans are infallible and we will certainly continue to have some COVID-19 cases, we are also confident in the strategies and protocols we have in place to help with our return. Rutgers has been extremely successful to date in keeping our community healthy throughout this pandemic, and we are committed to continuing that.

VACCINATION RATES: A critical step in repopulating our campuses was to require that our student population be vaccinated and to strongly urge faculty and staff to do so as well. I am happy to report that as I write this, almost three weeks before the start of the semester, we have over 95% compliance among our students and are confident that we will reach our goal. Additionally, we extended our vaccination requirement to our 8,600 employees in health care and public safety positions, where we now have a 97% compliance rate. I am also happy to report an overall faculty and staff vaccination-upload rate approaching 80%.

This is so important because as more of us are vaccinated, the safer the Rutgers community will be. Almost all current hospitalizations for COVID are among the unvaccinated, and data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shown that over 99.99% of those in our country who are fully vaccinated have not had a breakthrough case resulting in hospitalization or death. I cannot stress enough how critical these effective and safe vaccines are.

SAFETY MEASURES: Vaccination is the key to overcoming this pandemic, and these numbers are extremely important in understanding the great strides made at the university in creating a safe environment. But we are also aware that the delta variant is highly contagious and, while rare, can potentially infect and be spread by even those who are vaccinated. So, to keep our campus communities safe, we are continuing with the following measures:

• Required weekly testing of unvaccinated individuals
• Continued use of face-coverings indoors, including offices and classrooms
• Continued social distancing protocols in office environments
• Quarantining protocols for students who test positive
• Continued education on the safety and benefits of COVID-19 vaccines
• Free on-site vaccinations in Camden, Newark, and Piscataway

For additional information, please see the Guide to Returning to Rutgers and the university’s COVID-19 Vaccine page.

FUTURE OF WORK: I believe strongly that universities like Rutgers work best as in-person communities, and my expectation is that our faculty and staff will be fully repopulating our campuses this fall along with our students. I recognize that the pandemic has shown we can also accomplish a lot through thoughtful use of remote technology, and as I noted earlier this summer, a university-wide task force will be exploring lessons learned that we can apply going forward. As noted above, we will communicate with you each week with any updates or changes to our status as September approaches. I look forward to welcoming you all back to a successful fall for our entire community.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Holloway
President and University Professor