December 21, 2021 – New Spring 2022 COVID-19 Protocols

Dear Whitman community,

As we continue watching the rapid spread of Omicron around the world and learning how it may impact us here at Whitman, in the Walla Walla Valley and throughout the U.S. we have decided to make some updates to our Spring 2022 COVID Protocols that we hope will help us all return safely to campus in January and maintain community health throughout the spring semester.

PRE-RETURN TESTING REQUIRED FOR STUDENTS

Omicron now makes up 73% of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S., up from just 1% ten days ago. One step that will help us prevent on-campus transmission is to identify and isolate cases before they arrive at Whitman. Therefore we are requiring all students to take a COVID-19 test 24 to 72 hours before beginning travel to Walla Walla.

Students may use at-home rapid antigen test kits to fulfill this requirement, which are available for purchase at many local pharmacies, or be tested at a community testing location. Any student who is unable to access testing due to financial constraint or lack of community testing options may contact the COVID Testing team (covidtesting@whitman.edu) to request a test kit be mailed to them. Requests must be received by January 10 in order to ensure there is adequate processing and mailing time. All students who complete the pre-arrival testing will receive a $25 credit to their student account in late January or early February. After taking their test and receiving negative results, students must complete the Spring 2022 Pre-Arrival COVID Test form.

BASELINE TESTING TO BEGIN JANUARY 4

To provide immediate access to baseline testing for staff who come back to work in early January as well as others who may be returning to Walla Walla before the start of the semester, we are planning to open our campus-wide baseline testing January 4. Every staff, faculty, student, retiree and volunteer with campus access must be tested twice during the baseline testing period: as soon as possible after returning to campus/Walla Walla and a second test 5–10 days later.

All baseline testing will take place at Cordiner. The baseline testing schedule will be as follows:

January 4–7 and 10–12: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
January 13 & 14, 17–21, 24–28: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

You must take your first test by January 21 in order to complete your second test by the close of testing on January 28. There will be no make-up testing outside of the currently scheduled time. If you do not complete two tests at least five days apart by January 28 your campus access will be suspended.

CAMPUS BOOSTER REQUIREMENT TO INCLUDE VISITORS

As President Murray informed the campus community last week, we are requiring all eligible faculty, staff and students to receive the COVID-19 vaccine booster by January 15, 2022 or receive an approved booster exemption. Details on how to complete this requirement can be found in the December 17, 2021 – Spring 2022 COVID Logistics update in our COVID-19 Dashboard.

In keeping with our status as a fully vaccinated campus, the booster requirement will also include all visitors, including visiting speakers, spectators at athletic, theater and music events and people coming to campus for educational or business purposes. The Visitor/Event Access to Whitman Campus Facilities guidelines have been updated with this detail. There is no exemption to this requirement for visitors.

BOOSTER EXEMPTION REQUIREMENTS

We are offering three types of COVID-19 vaccine booster exemptions (medical, religious, emergency use authorization) for Whitman faculty, staff and students, the details of which are outlined in our COVID-19 Vaccination Policy. As the booster dose is now part of the practical definition of what it means to be fully vaccinated and because current research shows that the risk of infection is significantly higher for individuals who have not received a booster dose, anyone approved for an exemption will be expected to:

Take a weekly COVID-19 test (Tuesdays from 8:30 to 10 a.m. at Welty Student Health Center).
Maintain 3 feet of physical distance from others indoors and outdoors.
Wear a mask indoors at all times and wear a mask outdoors in crowded settings where 3 feet of physical distancing is not consistently possible.
Self-monitor on a daily basis to ensure that they are free of COVID-19 symptoms and have not been in close contact with a COVID-positive person in the past 14 days.

While we know that some colleges recently announced that they will be starting their spring semesters online, we continue to be optimistic that thorough testing practices, vaccine boosters and conscientious adherence to our community COVID-19 protocols are setting us up for success in returning immediately to in-person classes.

Best,
Peter Harvey
Chair, Coronavirus Task Force