BU to Dial Back Some COVID Testing, Masking, Guest Protocols
As Omicron wanes, change to student testing policy and end to temporary workplace accommodations are coming—and visitors will be allowed back in residences
Photo by Jackie Ricciardi
BU to Dial Back Some COVID Testing, Masking, Guest Protocols
As Omicron wanes, change to student testing policy and end to temporary workplace accommodations are coming—and visitors will be allowed back in residences
With the COVID-19 Omicron surge seemingly fading in Massachusetts, Boston University is relaxing some, but not all, of its pandemic protocols. Between February 7 and 13, 1.47 percent of tested BU students were positive for COVID, according to the University’s public COVID dashboard; 0.56 percent of tested staff members and 0.21 percent of tested faculty members were also positive.
In a February 15 letter, Judy Platt, BU chief health officer and executive director of Student Health Services, announced that changes put in place at the beginning of the year—including stricter masking in classrooms and increased testing for students—are being phased out. Citing state, city, and campus data, MWRA wastewater tracking, and high vaccination rates, Platt said the following changes would come into effect on February 21:
Testing: Undergraduate students will test just once a week rather than twice a week. Testing will remain unobserved. There are no changes for faculty, staff, and graduate students, who will continue weekly unobserved testing.
Catering and Events: On-campus catered food and beverage services can resume. (The Back2BU site has advice on event planning.)
Visitors: Students can bring outside guests into residence and dining halls—a return to pre-pandemic life. BU’s visitor policy strongly recommends all visitors are vaccinated and asks that they stick to masking rules. And a green badge will no longer be required to enter student residence and dining halls.
Face Masks: Those teaching or presenting in a classroom are again allowed to do so without a mask. All other indoor mask rules remain in place.
The University is also lifting special accommodations for faculty and staff put in place during the Omicron surge. They had allowed for remote teaching and working for those who’d tested positive for COVID or who had been experiencing caregiving disruptions. Those exceptions will end, starting February 21.
In a letter to faculty and staff, Jean Morrison, provost and chief academic officer, Derek Howe, senior vice president for operations, and Amanda Bailey, vice president for human resources, said “all residential courses should be taught in-person” and encouraged faculty to make recorded lectures available to students in isolation or quarantine. The letter recommended that faculty who can’t make an in-person class develop alternate plans, which “might include identifying another faculty member or senior doctoral student who can teach your class, or rescheduling classes.” Staff who test positive or are hit with caregiving issues were advised to work with their vice presidents or deans to “determine the best available options.”
Both letters came on the same day that the Massachusetts Department of Public Health changed its advice on indoor masking. Back in December, the state had recommended all residents wear a mask when indoors in public places; now, that advice only applies to the unvaccinated and those at greater risk because of a weakened immune system or underlying medical condition.
The Brink spoke with Platt and Gloria Waters, BU vice president and associate provost for research, to ask why the University is making these changes now, why it’s not going further in relaxing restrictions, and what it will take for us to lose the masks.
Q&A
with Judy Platt and Gloria Waters
The Brink: Why these changes and why now?
Platt: We’ve told our community, and we’ve held ourselves to this, that we know it’s important to follow the science, follow the data, look at the trends that are happening at the local, city, and state levels so that we can evolve our protocols accordingly. We are starting to slowly transition and measure the impact that has on our community. None of these are earth-shattering changes right now, but they represent the beginning of this transition. The lifting of the guest policy is the only return to pre-COVID policies.
Waters: And I think that’s important: guests have not been allowed in the residence halls for two years—this is a sign that we are returning back to normal.
The Brink: Does allowing external—and untested and possibly unvaccinated—visitors into residence and dining halls increase the risk to the rest of us?
Platt: We know that the unvaccinated have the highest risk of getting COVID and having severe illness, hospitalization, as an outcome of their clinical infection. A vaccinated person with COVID versus an unvaccinated person with COVID doesn’t necessarily transmit the virus any differently. There may be some differences in how long they shed the virus, but both groups can transmit the virus. This really underscores the importance of mask use for individuals who are at higher risk and, regardless of what the mandates are, there are individuals who still wear masks in outdoor settings if they’re crowded or with people of unknown vaccination status. It really just behooves people to be aware that we’re opening up to visitors and to choose a high-quality mask if they find themselves in situations where they may be in close contact.
The Brink: The positivity rate on campus went below 1 percent this past weekend. Why not go further, roll back testing for staff and faculty, pull back mask restrictions?
Platt: In terms of testing, we are pulling back the testing, but we’re trying to pull back slowly so we can monitor the impacts of reduced testing. BU’s Community Health Oversight Group and Medical Advisory Group are actively discussing next steps and whether we can further reduce testing requirements for faculty and staff, because they have the lowest percent positivity. We expect our protocols to evolve as we continue to monitor the trends.
Waters: Although the positivity did go below 1 percent, it then went back above it. It’s not stable right now. We just don’t know what level to expect it to be steady at during an endemic. Once we understand that, it’ll be easier for us to understand which protocols we should keep in place and when we would step some of them back.
We have to really thank the students for being so responsible and thoughtful, and for their patience, for adhering to all of the protocols, and how far it’s taken us.
The Brink: Some have commented on our past COVID reports that the decision-making on protocols seems arbitrary. Why not have a fixed goal for when to end masking and testing on campus?
Waters: It’s because we don’t know what the exact metrics for an endemic state are going to be. It might be that 1 percent positivity is what we’re going to see for a long time. I don’t think we want to say it has to be below 1 percent—what if that’s the endemic level?
Platt: The hard and fast number or the percentage or the metric is something that people want, because one of the things that has been so challenging about COVID is the watchful waiting—and wondering, when will it end? And if people don’t have that end in sight, it gets very hard. To have a fixed percentage does not always give a clear picture of the entire situation that we are facing, and so to do that really does a disservice to our community. Those percentages could mean very different things. What if we said, we’ll accept a 1 percent positivity rate, but 100 percent of [those] people who got COVID died? Well, then that wouldn’t be acceptable. The nature of this illness is a little more challenging than to just have a few fixed metrics. We’ve seen the definition of herd immunity change with different variants, and I think that’s the challenge if you set a particular percentage or metric—any changes that evolve with the virus cause you to have to reevaluate that.
Waters: The campus positivity rate now is higher than it was at the beginning of COVID, but [vaccinated] people aren’t getting really sick, so it’s not the positivity rate, it’s the effect of having COVID on the students that allowed us to say, well, even though last year we didn’t allow visitors, this year, with a higher positivity rate, people aren’t getting as ill or being hospitalized; there’s the sense that the effects of the virus are less severe.
Have more COVID questions? Check out the Back2BU website for all the details on BU’s masking, testing, vaccination, quarantine, and isolation policies.
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