COVID-19 Update: Spring Events Update, Booster Clinics and More

11/19/2021

January 21, 2022

To the Saint Louis University community,

It has been so wonderful to see everyone back on campus this week for the start of the spring semester, even if most of us have been bundled up against the cold.

I write with a few updates as we wrap up the first week of spring semester, including:

• SLU’s spring 2022 events guidance
• Vaccine booster clinics
• Vaccine portal reminder
• Random sample asymptomatic surveillance testing
• Contacting employee health
• Update in communication protocols
• Travel policy available online
• Dashboard returning next week

Events guidance for spring 2022

SLU community members have been anticipating detailed guidelines on events and gatherings, as we navigate the current COVID surge. The complete spring events planning guidance for our St. Louis campuses is now live.

This guidance covers events hosted by student organizations, employees/units, and external groups. It also covers specifics on formal and informal meetings, tabling, and just plain hanging out.

Key points about informal gatherings and meetings include:

• You may gather informally in person (a.k.a., hang out with others) without specific restrictions, provided you exercise good judgment and discernment. Consider time, space, and venue. Keep your face mask on, except when you are actively eating or drinking – and minimize that unmasked time as much as you can.
• Employee meetings are not restricted, but again, it is essential to use good judgment. Virtual meetings are encouraged. When you do gather in person, wear face masks and limit unmasked time eating or drinking.

Key points about campus events include:

• Neither internal nor external in-person events will be permitted to occur, on or off campus, until after January 31, 2022, with the exception of events in Chaifetz Arena. This is a temporary restriction, which will allow time for community infection rates to (hopefully) decrease and for students to comply with the Vaccine Booster Requirement deadline of January 31.
• Internal events may be held before January 31 if the Designated Events Review (DER) committee determines that they are integral to the mission of the university. Submit your proposals to the DER here.
• If infection rates are improving, internal events may resume beginning February 1. At that time, sponsoring groups may apply to the DER to hold external events that are integral to the mission of the university.
• We anticipate that the university will begin to approve external events again beginning March 1.

Students with questions about this guidance should review these Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), then contact involvement@slu.edu. Employees with questions should contact events@slu.edu.

Vaccination booster clinics

Compliance with the vaccine booster requirement is essential to our ability to continue to learn, teach, work and socialize together safely in community.

Remember that students and SLUCare staff are required to receive their booster dose by January 31, and all other non-SLUCare faculty and staff must receive their booster dose by February 28.

You can get your booster on campus next week at one of these vaccination clinics at Simon Rec Center. You can make an appointment, though walk-ins are also welcome. As always, family and friends are welcome to be vaccinated at one of our vaccination clinics.

• 10 a.m. - 12 p.m., Tuesday, January 25 (Pfizer)
• 12 p.m. - 2 p.m., Tuesday, January 25 (Moderna)
• 10 a.m. - 12 p.m., Thursday, January 27 (Pfizer)
• 12 p.m. - 2 p.m., Thursday, January 27 (Moderna)

Vaccination clinics will continue to be offered Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout February.

Upload your proof of booster vaccination

Don’t forget to upload your proof of booster vaccination to the vaccine portal by the deadlines listed above.

Random sample asymptomatic surveillance testing

As a reminder: Starting the week of January 23, we will begin testing a random sample of 10% of our on-campus students every week. We have not done this type of testing since Spring 2021. Today’s circumstances warrant us to once again monitor infection rates among our residential students living in a congregate setting.

The first random sample of students will receive notification by email today, Friday, January 21. That email will give instructions on how and when to report for testing next week in the Simon Recreation Center.

This testing is required.

Contacting Employee Health

Employees who are exhibiting signs of COVID-19, who have been exposed to a COVID-positive person, or who have obtained a COVID-positive test from CVS, Walgreens or some other non-SLU testing entity should call Employee Health (314-257-8400). Please be prepared to share your Banner ID with Employee Health. This will enable faster service.

Update in communication protocols

Please be aware that the teams in Employee Health, Student Health, and Contact Tracing are managing a high volume of cases at this time. For this reason, some notifications may happen by email instead of by phone. Please be sure to check your SLU email regularly.

Travel policy available online

The revised Interim University Travel Policy and COVID-19 Pandemic Travel Guidance is now available on the SLU policy website.

COVID-19 dashboard returning next week

Weekly COVID-19 dashboard updates will resume next Tuesday, January 25. The dashboard will include spring return-to-campus testing results. The fall semester data will be archived on the dashboard website so that you can access all of our prior COVID-19 student and employee data. We will send an update when the Dashboard is live.

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As we expected, the surge in Omicron infections has brought some challenges, and we continue to adapt effectively to serve our community. We are grateful for our medical staff and other front-line workers who have been responding with such courage and care. We are also grateful to the SLU School of Nursing faculty and staff who continue to support our testing and vaccination clinics.

We also want to thank all of our public health students who are members of the SLU Contact Tracing team, and all of the staff and student workers and volunteers who have shown up to help in vaccination or testing clinics, to transport infected students to isolation housing, to deliver meals or snacks, or to assist in our COVID-19 response in countless other ways. We are so proud to call you all colleagues and friends. You demonstrate our Jesuit values.

If you have any questions, please email us at pandemic@slu.edu.

Stay safe and be well,

Terri Rebmann, Ph.D., RN, CIC, FAPIC
Special Assistant to the President
Director, Institute for Biosecurity
Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
College for Public Health and Social Justice