COVID Vaccine, Mask Mandates Continue At Rutgers University This Fall

NEW JERSEY — The state's largest public university will continue mandates this fall semester for COVID-19 vaccination and face coverings. With the school year set to begin in weeks, Rutgers University officials said the state of the virus will require the continuation of mitigation protocols.

All students and employees on campus must get fully vaccinated against COVID and then obtain a booster when eligible. The university allows for medical and religious exemptions, but those taking advantage must submit a request form and will need to get regular testing.

Rutgers will require face coverings in all indoor teaching spaces, libraries and clinical settings. The university won't require masking for indoor events, but attendees must show proof of full vaccination or a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours before the event.

"It is clear that the COVID-19 virus, in some form, is now a permanent part of our daily lives," Rutgers Executive Vice President Antonio M. Calcado wrote Tuesday to the university community. "As the virus moves from pandemic to endemic, Rutgers continues to maintain its COVID-19 safety protocols on face coverings, vaccines and boosters, testing, and quarantining and isolation."

The university's COVID protocols haven't shifted since June 10, when they were most recently updated. But two months later, officials have a clearer picture of the COVID situation as the school year nears. The fall semester begins Sept. 6.

The state hasn't surpassed 1,200 COVID patients in hospitals on any given day since mid-February, according to the New Jersey Department of Health. That's far lower than past hospitalization totals during the peak of last winter's omicron wave (6,089 patients Jan. 11) and the early pandemic (6,127 in April 2020). COVID deaths also haven't spiked since the initial omicron wave.

But the pandemic isn't over. As of Thursday, the CDC recommended mask-wearing for indoor, public spaces in 17 New Jersey counties, including all cities and towns with a Rutgers campus — New Brunswick, Piscataway, Newark and Camden. About 3,300 Americans died of COVID in the past week, according to federal data.

The CDC also reduced COVID restrictions last week, prompting Gov. Phil Murphy to loosen school protocols and drop the testing mandate for unvaccinated employees in schools and child care settings. Read more: NJ To Drop COVID Testing Mandates: Latest Details

In the Rutgers University letter, Calcado also addressed monkeypox. The university hasn't imposed any monkeypox protocols, will not offer treatment for the disease and doesn't have access to the vaccine. People should contact and consult with their physicians if they suspect they have contracted or been exposed to monkeypox, Calcado said.

"Unlike COVID-19, which is very contagious and is spread primarily via a respiratory route," Calcado wrote, "monkeypox is much less contagious and is typically spread through close skin-to-skin contact with an infected person and not by casual exposure."