Dear U-M Student,

We are looking forward to welcoming you to campus this fall for a much more traditional in-person experience. There are important steps for you to take now to support a safe, healthy and successful fall term:

  • Whether you are vaccinated or choosing not to share your vaccination status, we want to hear from you as soon as possible so that we can make final plans for the fall term. Share your vaccination status with the university via Wolverine Access no later than July 16. If you’ve already submitted your vaccination information – and 22,800 of you have – we thank you for doing so.
  • Declining to submit vaccine information or not planning to get vaccinated? You must sign up by July 16 for fall weekly COVID testing through U-M’s Community Sampling and Tracking Program. Reminder, if you are currently coming to campus or taking spring/summer classes and have not submitted your vaccination information, you are required to complete weekly testing under the mandatory testing policy. This policy will continue for the fall.
  • We strongly encourage all students to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Studies show that the vaccines are safe and extremely effective at protecting you against COVID-19. The vaccine is available at most retail pharmacies as well as Michigan Medicine, University Health Service and other medical providers. You also can get your shot at an upcoming vaccination clinic being offered by the Washtenaw County Health Department on Tuesday, June 29, from 3-5:30 p.m. at Ingalls Mall North under the outdoor canopy. No appointment is needed. This clinic is open to anyone 18 or older and will offer the Moderna and the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Additional information, including other opportunities to be vaccinated, is available on the Campus Blueprint vaccine page.
  • Become eligible for prizes for sharing your vaccination information. All students who submit proof of their completed vaccination will be automatically eligible for weekly, monthly and grand prize drawings beginning Tuesday, June 29. The first drawing of the summer will be a special grand prize drawing for all students who submitted their vaccination information prior to June 16. They include three $500 travel vouchers, three $500 U-M Tech Shop gift cards, and three $500 Barnes & Noble Bookstore gift cards. Winners will be notified at their university email address.
  • U-M’s COVID-19 policies have been recently updated.

Use of face coverings: U-M policy still requires masking indoors. However, students who are fully vaccinated and self-report their status are now generally exempt from indoor masking. Face coverings remain required — regardless of vaccination status — in classrooms, on campus transportation​, ​and in health care areas where patients may be present​. The university will continue to reevaluate its approach for classrooms later this summer with the goal to scale back the masking requirement for vaccinated individuals when the self-reported vaccination rates and measures of community spread support doing so.

Those who have not self-reported their vaccination information are expected to continue following public health guidance of masking and distancing when inside campus facilities and buildings.

To support a return to a typical fall academic experience, the university is designing classrooms at pre-pandemic capacities. We recognize classrooms may have a mixed population of vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. At this time, U-M policy requires face coverings in the classroom given students’ requirement to be physically present and to reduce potential spread of COVID-19 between unvaccinated individuals. This may change based on community spread and reported vaccination rates.

ResponsiBLUE: Continued use of the daily COVID-19 symptom-checker app is expected for all students, faculty and staff who access campus buildings.

Please visit the Campus Blueprint website for FAQs and the latest information. Thank you for your continued effort to keep yourself and the broader U-M community safe.

Looking forward to having you back on campus in the fall!

Sincerely,

Preeti Malani
U-M Chief Health Officer

Robert D. Ernst
Associate Vice President of Student Life
Director of Campus COVID Response