COVID 19: Welcome Back For Employees - A Message from President Clark

Happy New Year! I hope you have had an opportunity to get some rest and spend time with family and friends. As we welcome our students back and approach the start of classes next Wednesday, January 18, 2023, I want to remind you of a few of our public health requirements, which we have separately communicated to students.

In addition to the widespread prevalence of the flu and other respiratory ailments, Massachusetts and this region continue to be areas of high COVID-19 transmission, with rising levels of positive cases and hospitalizations. Together, we can protect our campus community by following some simple measures.

Masking

• We continue to require that masks be worn in all classrooms and instructional spaces during scheduled class times, although faculty have the option of NOT requiring mask wearing in their classes.
• While BSU remains a mask-optional campus (except for classrooms and instructional spaces), we encourage the use of masks and have ample supplies of free medical procedure masks available in locations across campus.

Testing

• Rapid tests will continue to be made available at no cost and can be picked up at distribution sites across the campus, including the Wellness Center, Tinsley Center and RSU welcome desk.
• We ask people with symptoms or who have been exposed to people with COVID to test and report any positive results via our COVID 19 reporting form.

Vaccine

• We encourage everyone who is eligible to get the bivalent “booster” vaccine, which is effective against the Omicron variants of COVID.
• Booster vaccines are available at the Wellness Center throughout the semester. Please visit the Wellness Center BridgeNet site to view available times and book your booster now. There is no charge for any COVID vaccinations.

For additional information on BSU’s Spring protocols, please visit our COVID-19 webpage, where you can find BSU’s requirements, report a positive test result and attest to being vaccinated.

Get Help

We all struggle with emotional, financial and other issues at different times in our lives. To assist our faculty and staff, who want to help students (and colleagues) coping with these stressors, we urge you to visit the recently revised website to learn more about the amazing resources BSU has available to help students and others.

As BSU Bears, we have a responsibility to care for each other. Thank you in advance for following our COVID requirements and keeping everyone in our community safe.