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Penn State President Eric Barron joined other University leaders for a town hall on Aug. 3 to share updated health and safety plans for the fall 2021 semester with the University community.
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After receiving their final dose, students, faculty and staff are strongly encouraged to share their vaccination status with the University to help inform University operations and COVID-19 management plans.
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Learn how and where to get tested; how and where to quarantine and isolate; and more about contact tracing at Penn State.
Updated two times a week, visit Penn State's COVID-19 dashboard for trends in testing results for all campus locations.
Find the information you will need to have a successful summer 2021 semester and learn more about future semesters.
Recent guidance from the CDC recommends masking by vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals indoors in areas with substantial or high transmission of COVID-19. In accordance with this guidance, the University requires all individuals — vaccinated and unvaccinated — to wear masks while indoors on campus on campuses located in counties with substantial or high transmission or when warranted by other circumstances. This includes classrooms, meeting spaces and other shared public indoor areas.
On campuses in counties with low to moderate transmission, the University strongly encourages vaccinated individuals to wear masks indoors and requires masks to be worn indoors by those who are not vaccinated. Additionally, faculty and staff may indicate that they want all visitors to their individual office to wear a mask, and the University asks that the community respects these requests.
These measures apply to all Penn State campuses except the College of Medicine, which has already implemented specific guidance for its community.
Testing plans and requirements for employees who are not vaccinated or have not shared that they are vaccinated with the University will be announced soon. Employees are strongly encouraged to seek testing from their health care provider but will also have access to University provided testing. Employees should upload their information to the Salesforce portal by Aug. 9 or as soon as possible.
Students living in on-campus residence halls on any campus who have not been fully vaccinated and/or have not shared their vaccination status with the University by Aug. 9 will be required to take a COVID-19 test upon arrival to their campus. There will be rapid testing at the University Park, Abington, Altoona, Behrend, Berks and Harrisburg campuses. Other campuses will have PCR test kits. Students with negative test results will be permitted to move into their residence halls. Students who test positive will have the choice of entering on- or near-campus isolation for 10 days or returning home for 10 days.
On-arrival testing also will be available for students living off campus who wish to be tested, but priority testing during move-in dates will be for residence hall students. The University will not accept a negative COVID-19 test result from an off-campus test source for move in. Students who test positive from an off-campus testing source can provide that information to University Health Services (UHS) via MyUHS and are encouraged to do so as soon as the test result is received.
Students living in on-campus residence halls who remain unvaccinated or do not submit their vaccination status to the University by Aug. 9 will be required to test for COVID-19 weekly throughout the semester or until they share with the University that they have been vaccinated.
The University also will conduct regular testing throughout the fall semester of the University’s population of students living off campus who have not shared with the University that they have been vaccinated.
Students who test positive will be referred to isolation and the University’s contact tracing process will be initiated. Unvaccinated students who are identified as close contacts of an individual who has tested positive for COVID-19 will be referred to quarantine. Students must work with their instructor if they must miss class due to illness or quarantine.
There will be significant compliance consequences through Student Conduct for students who do not comply with testing requirements. More information on testing is forthcoming prior to the start of the fall semester.
Throughout the fall semester, vaccines will be available on or near all campuses. At University Park, University Health Services (UHS) will offer appointments for vaccines on Thursdays and Fridays beginning September 2.
UHS is also hosting a vaccine clinic on Aug. 23 and 24 where students can get their first or second dose of the Moderna vaccine. Students can schedule appointments online through UHS.
With the University providing a fully in-person experience this fall, most courses will not have a remote participation option. Students who must enter quarantine or isolation will miss roughly two weeks of in-person classes. As in pre-pandemic years, students must work with their instructor if they must miss class due to illness or quarantine.
Students who are unable to get vaccinated for any reason have the option to switch to World Campus for the semester to avoid having to miss classes in case they were to be impacted by quarantine and isolation. In all cases, faculty are asked to be flexible and work with students who have to miss class for quarantine or isolation.
