Dear colleagues,
As we all look forward to getting back to normal on campus, there are some important steps we urge our faculty and staff to take now to ensure we have a healthy, safe and successful fall term:
- Submit your vaccination information to become eligible for prizes. Faculty and staff who submit proof of their completed COVID-19 vaccination through Wolverine Access will become automatically eligible for weekly, monthly and grand prize drawings beginning June 29. Prizes offered this summer will include a gold parking pass, tickets to attend an upcoming U-M football game in a suite and cash prizes of up to $5,000. Winners will be notified at their university email address. More information on reporting your COVID-19 vaccination, including how the information will be used, is available on the Campus Blueprint FAQs page.
- If you’re not vaccinated, visit the mobile vaccination clinic on campus. The Washtenaw County Health Department will host a vaccination clinic on Tuesday, June 29 from 3-5:30 p.m. at Ingalls Mall North under the outdoor canopy. This clinic is open to anyone 18 or older and will offer the Moderna and the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines. There is no appointment needed. Additional information, including other opportunities to be vaccinated, is available on the Campus Blueprint vaccine page.
As a reminder, employees are eligible to use up to two hours of paid release time per vaccine dose. Supervisors are strongly encouraged to be flexible in allowing employees to use this bank of time to receive a vaccination during the work day. Additional information is available through U-M Human Resources.
Studies show that the vaccines are safe and extremely effective at protecting you against COVID-19.
- U-M’s COVID-19 policies have been recently updated.
Use of face coverings: U-M policy still requires masking indoors. However, faculty and staff who are fully vaccinated and self-report their status are 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.
Employees are encouraged to continue sharing their self-report vaccination verification email with their supervisors. Supervisors have the authority to verify vaccination status of their employees but are not required to do so.
The university expects those who have not self-reported their vaccination information to continue to follow 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.
Sincerely,
Preeti Malani
U-M Chief Health Officer
Robert D. Ernst
Associate Vice President of Student Life
Director of Campus COVID Response