UConn eases COVID-19 restrictions
University moves to low-risk status, allowing outdoor activities and guests in residence halls
UConn eases restrictions, allowing students to hold outdoor performances and permitting non-overnight guests in residence halls, effective Thursday.
UConn will allow students to hold outdoor performances and permit non-overnight guests inside residence halls, a first-time shift to ease coronavirus-related restrictions at the university. The policy changes went into effect Thursday.
Eleanor Daugherty, associate vice president of student affairs and dean of students, said in an email to the UConn community Wednesday the changes reflect “the success of our continued care for another and reducing exposure and spread of COVID-19.”
“Given our overall good health and the advice of my colleagues, I am choosing to transition our residential status to BLUE,” she wrote.
Under the low-risk “blue” status, UConn must have 80% or higher participation in residential surveillance testing. Information provided through contact tracing must be reliable and “effectively containing spread,” the university states. Residential students are permitted one guest, who must leave before midnight.
Mask-wearing and physical distancing is still mandatory, along with compliance to other health and safety protocols, and the coronavirus test positivity rate among students should stay at or below 3%.
In order to achieve a full return to normalcy, or a “green” campus status, there must be “prevalent immunity and evidence of vaccination compliance” among the university community. Connecticut residents ages 16-34 are expected to become eligible for COVID-19 vaccines May 3.
According to UConn’s COVID19 dashboard, last updated Thursday, the Storrs campus has a positivity rate of 1.15% and 53 current positive/symptomatic cases. Daugherty noted the university continues to maintain a “lower positivity rate,” although “there has been some concerning testing this week.”
“Please remember our status is reviewed weekly and can change at any time,” she added.
UConn will also follow Gov. Ned Lamont’s recent decision to roll back coronavirus-related capacity restrictions beginning March 19. Indoor and outdoor sports venues will be allowed to increase their capacities April 2. However, Daugherty noted administrators may still need to limit capacities for certain events based on room size and social distancing requirements. The dean also addressed an off-campus party broken up by state police Saturday night. Three people who rent the home were given citations for violating Lamont’s executive order on gathering limits after troopers reported 150-200 maskless revelers.
“Both I and my UConn colleagues choose to believe in the actions of the many UConn students, not the few. But there have been some exceptions: most notably, the information the University recently received from Connecticut State Police regarding a gathering on Birch Road last weekend,” she said. “When those exceptions occur, our University will both provide for the health of our students and hold students accountable to the [Student] Code, and the health and safety procedures that have been created in response to the pandemic.”
Over the next few weeks, UConn is expected to share more information on graduation plans and the following school year. Members of the Class of 2020 and the Class of 2021 were asked to complete by Wednesday a survey on whether or not they would participate in an in-person ceremony, although the university has not yet made an official decision.