COVID-19 Campus Safety Guidance for Spring Semester Coming Next Week

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Students, faculty and staff will soon receive updated COVID-19 safety guidance for the spring semester at the University of Arkansas. The updated guidance will be incorporated into the existing COVID-19 information site the week of Dec. 14.

Like the Returning to Campus guide utilized during the fall semester, the updated guide will include information, resources and direction in multiple areas including health and safety, academic success, campus life, events, travel and guidance for employees as the university continues its return to campus.

While some sections will remain virtually unchanged including guidance regarding hand washing, social distancing and mask wearing, other protocols will be revised. For example, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to endorse quarantining for 14 days as the safest practice for those identified as a close contact of a positive COVID-19 individual, it recently introduced new options for quarantining.

The university recognizes the benefit of having options to reduce quarantine length and is working to incorporate the new CDC options for non-symptomatic individuals. Updated guidance will be included in the Spring 2021 COVID-19 Campus Safety Guide and will be implemented as appropriate beginning Jan. 1, 2021. However, through Dec. 31, 2020, the University of Arkansas will continue to require a 14-day quarantine for those individuals.

The university's COVID-19 Response Team is currently reviewing and finalizing the updated information for the spring guide.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among fewer than 3 percent of colleges and universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.