COVID-19 Update from Chancellor Robinson
COVID-19 Update from Chancellor Robinson
Dear U of A Community:
As we near the first warm days of spring, I am glad to send you a hopeful message regarding COVID-19 measures on campus. In recent weeks, the concerning surge of Omicron cases we noted in January has begun to recede, and, in keeping with this news, the Arkansas Department of Health is making changes to its reporting and contact tracing endeavors.
All along we’ve said we will adjust our practices to meet the needs of the campus at the appropriate time. So, while this development does not mean that we no longer need to be diligent in our care for each other and ourselves where the pandemic is concerned, it does allow the university to end our COVID-19 self-reporting requirement and to plan other phased adjustments to our campus mitigation efforts.
We will continue to require masking in classrooms and labs, while making gradual changes to campus COVID-19 policy, where they make sense for us based on the conditions. As such, we’re adjusting our masking guidance to the following:
- Masks are required in most indoor locations when 6-ft of social distancing is not possible, but masks continue to always be required regardless of social distancing on Razorback Transit buses, classrooms, labs, PWHC and at the speech and hearing clinic.
- We have also added dining areas, active exercise areas and sporting events to our list of exemptions as locations and activities where masks are recommended rather than required.
Like all of you, I am looking forward to a time when masking is no longer necessary, but I appreciate your continued responsibility and caution. We will continue to monitor this issue and make updates as appropriate.
The latest report from the Arkansas Department of Health showed that more than 90% of university employees are now at least partially vaccinated, along with almost 82% of our students from Arkansas. This is encouraging news, and I am grateful to each of you for doing your part to protect yourselves and your community. By the way, vaccination status updates for our campus are now included on the university’s dashboard report.
Please take a moment to thank each other for the diligence and grace you’ve shown – I know this hasn’t been an easy year by any measure and I am grateful for your support and dedication to each other and to the University of Arkansas.
Sincerely,
Charles Robinson, PhD
Interim Chancellor