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Rockefeller University

This message was sent to the Rockefeller community from the Office of the Executive Vice President on February 4, 2022 at 12:47 p.m.
Subject: Update on COVID-19 policies

Dear members of the Rockefeller community,

The rapid decline in COVID-19 case numbers on campus and in the New York City area since the end of December has led the Rockefeller Restart Committee to review the state of University COVID policies. This review considered many factors, including the declining case numbers in our community and in NYC, the high percentage (85%) of those vaccinated and boosted in our community, the University’s ability to control and monitor campus access and the daily self-assessments and weekly COVID testing for employees and students who come to campus. The review also considered the high infectivity rate of Omicron, the potential emergence and impact of new variants, and the broad range of risk tolerance within our community, along with knowledge developed since the emergence of Omicron in mid-December that the risk of severe COVID among fully vaccinated people is much lower than in unvaccinated people, and is even lower among people who are vaccinated and boosted. We thus need to balance the benefit of preventing cases across all age groups with the potential for overly restrictive policies to have adverse effects that outweigh potential benefits. We hope that the steps described below strike an appropriate balance. These plans assume that daily case levels, which currently are still at very high levels, continue their steep decline.

  • The Bass Dining Commons, starting Monday, February 7, will resume in-person ordering and in-person dining.
  • The Faculty and Students Club will resume indoor service on Monday, February 7.
  • Beginning Monday, February 14, employees and students will be allowed to remove face masks while in their work areas.  Face masks will continue to be required in all shared indoor areas of the campus and face covering is required at all times for guests and visitors.
    • For those working in labs, this means that starting on February 14, face masks will no longer be mandatory while working in your lab. Face masks will continue to be required in any shared and common spaces indoors.
    • For those working in office spaces, this means that starting on February 14, face masks will no longer be required while working in spaces dedicated to your department and unit that are separated by a closed door from common spaces (like corridors).
    • Exceptions to the waiver of the mask mandate (e.g., The Child and Family Center) will be communicated separately to those involved.
    • For additional guidance about specific spaces, please send inquiries to restart@rockefeller.edu

Please take careful note that the face mask policy change above does not take effect until February 14. While we are cautiously optimistic about relaxing certain social policies a week sooner, such activities and spaces are elective rather than required and people spend significantly less cumulative time in those spaces, hence the difference in timing of implementation.

As a reminder:

  • Campus access is limited to university personnel.  Requests for access for non-RU personnel for business purposes should be sent to Restart@rockefeller.edu.
  • While virtual meetings continue to be encouraged, in-person meetings are allowed. Food/beverages at meetings continue to be prohibited at this time.  Social distancing is required when eating/drinking on campus.
  • In-person seminars, training, classes and presentations involving university personnel are allowed. Speakers can remove their face covering while presenting as long as they can maintain a distance of at least 8 feet from others.
  • The university continues to strongly encourage those who can effectively work remotely to do so through February 11. During a transition period between February 12-27, we encourage those who have been working remotely to begin to return to campus, even if only once or twice per week. However, everyone should plan to return to their previous on-campus or approved hybrid work schedules by February 28.
  • Mandated weekly testing under RUStrong continues and completion of the RUHealthy self-assessment prior to reporting to any University workplace is required. We strongly encourage everyone coming to campus to avail themselves of testing twice per week.

It is our hope that the current decline in COVID cases will continue and that we will soon be able to further relax University COVID policies, but, as always, we will monitor conditions and take action to protect our community should the current or new variants present increasing risk. For planning purposes, another update will be provided no later than February 11.

If you have any questions about the current policies, please send an email to restart@rockefeller.edu

Please take care of yourselves and each other,

Tim O’Connor and Mike Rout

Co-Chairs, Research Restart Committee