COVID-19

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Washington DC Campus Updates

We are continuing to require a full course of COVID baseline vaccinations and at least one booster shot of all JHU employees and students. Documentation must be provided through our Vaccine Management System.

Dear Faculty, Staff, Students, and Postdocs,

We are excited for the approach of the fall semester and anticipate a return to the most normal operations we have seen since the beginning of the pandemic. COVID remains a serious challenge locally, nationally, and globally, but based on our experience in managing the pandemic within our community—and your diligence in following best practices to prevent the virus’s spread—we believe we can safely enact further loosening of our public health restrictions. Our full set of policies will continue to be updated on covidinfo.jhu.edu, but here are some important things for you to know for the beginning of the fall semester:

Testing:

Undergraduate residential students should self-test no more than 72 hours before arriving on campus/in Baltimore. While we are not asking for verification, students who test positive should notify Student Health using this form and remain off campus and isolate for a minimum of five days. They will be advised to test again after five days and should not return until they have a negative test and are asymptomatic or have resolving symptoms and are cleared by Student Health staff.

Routine asymptomatic testing will not be required for any population, including those with exceptions to the university’s vaccine mandate. We may reinstate testing requirements for particular groups if necessary to address outbreaks during the semester. Voluntary PCR-based saliva testing will continue through the fall semester and free rapid test kits will continue to be available to all affiliates.

Masking:

Masking is no longer required in any campus spaces, including for individuals with exceptions to the vaccine mandate. Masking is highly effective at preventing the spread of COVID, and we may reinstate the mandate for certain groups or in certain circumstances.
Individuals may choose to continue masking themselves based on their individual circumstances, and we will continue to provide free, high-quality masks for all affiliates.

Vaccination:

We are continuing to require a full course of COVID baseline vaccinations and at least one booster shot of all JHU employees and students. Documentation must be provided through our Vaccine Management System. Our policy for granting medical and religious exceptions remains unchanged and can be found on the coronavirus information website.

We have added Novavax as an option for baseline vaccination but are still requiring an mRNA (Pfizer or Moderna) booster shot as soon as individuals are eligible, regardless of their initial vaccine.
Individuals arriving from overseas who received a vaccine authorized by the World Health Organization but not the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are immediately eligible for a booster (you may wait 28 days following your last dose).

Isolation and Leave:

If you have any COVID or flu-like symptoms, including fever, muscle or body aches, coughing, congestion or a runny nose, difficulty breathing, diarrhea, or fatigue, do not come to campus for class or work. Johns Hopkins faculty and staff who feel ill or are concerned about exposure to the coronavirus should continue to utilize the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Call Center at 443-287-8500, seven days a week, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Students should call 410-516-5709 seven days a week between 8:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., or email [email protected].

Anyone testing positive should isolate for at least five days and until they are free of symptoms. Employees are still eligible for 10 days of COVID leave in addition to other forms of leave, which can be used for one or more infections over the course of the pandemic (up to 10 days total across all infections, not per infection).

We are continuing our current policy of employing isolation in place for residential undergraduates who test positive in most circumstances. Limited alternative accommodations will be made in cases where isolation in place can’t be done safely, as determined by our medical professionals.

Events, Gatherings, and Dining:

No restrictions are in place with regard to events and gatherings or serving food and beverages.

As has been the case since the beginning of the pandemic, these policies reflect close consultation with Johns Hopkins experts in public health and infectious disease, as well as compliance with state and local regulations. We will continue to closely monitor public health conditions, and if we need to reinstate control measures to protect the health and safety of our community and our neighbors, we will do so. However, based on the near-universal vaccination of our community as well as the proven effectiveness of measures such as the use of high-quality masks, we have every expectation that we will be able to complete the fall semester in person as planned.

School of Medicine faculty, staff, students, and postdoctoral fellows will continue to follow Johns Hopkins Medicine policies. The Applied Physics Laboratory has its own policies for individuals on its property, but for APL staff members who work, teach, or attend classes at other JHU or JHM campuses, the mandates for each campus apply and can supersede APL guidelines. Likewise, university affiliates must follow APL policies when on its campus.

Unfortunately, COVID is not the only public health risk we face. Although we are not aware of any cases among JHU affiliates, we are monitoring the recent spread of monkeypox and have begun conversations with the Maryland Department of Health regarding monitoring of cases, testing, contact tracing, and procedures for treatment of infected individuals. As with COVID, we are assembling a group of public health and medical professionals to guide our response to monkeypox, and we will keep you informed as the situation develops and as doses of the monkeypox vaccine become available.

We look forward to seeing you on campus soon,

Stephen Gange
Professor and Executive Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

Kevin Shollenberger
Vice Provost for Student Health and Well-Being

Jon Links
Professor, Vice Provost, and Chief Risk Officer

Dear Johns Hopkins Community:

We are pleased to tell you that we are planning for fully in-person instruction and student activities in the fall. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have found that certain technological innovations serve to improve pedagogy and student access and success, and our schools have been discussing ways to ensure that those efforts can continue. But given the near universal rates of vaccination on campus, the lessons we and our peers have learned, and the continued advice of our own public health and medical experts, we believe that our campus activities will not be meaningfully altered because of COVID. Planning for summer academic activities and for future employee work modalities is also underway—details will be communicated as they are finalized.

We expect that COVID will still be circulating in the community this summer and fall. There will continue to be times when the prevalence of COVID is heightened as the pandemic progresses towards a more endemic level, similar to seasonal influenza, and some level of precautions will remain necessary.

Although neither vaccination nor boosters entirely prevent infection, they have demonstrated continued protection against severe disease and have contributed to cases on campus being generally mild. Hence, we plan to continue requiring vaccinations and boosters, as well as flu shots, for students in the fall.

We also anticipate being able to rely on additional control measures, such as masking and testing, that have been in effect this spring. As warranted, there may be times when we require parts of our community to get tested or use face coverings in certain circumstances. For residential students, we will move to having students isolate in place but will retain some limited capacity for off-campus isolation housing, which we think may be needed at the beginning of the fall term and after Thanksgiving break.

For the fall, we will continue to have Johns Hopkins COVID Call Center (JHCCC) expertise available to help answer questions, provide referrals for testing and care, and help identify where there may be locations or populations of concern.

We appreciate all your efforts since the beginning of the pandemic to keep our community safe and to continue to pursue our university’s research, education, and community service missions. We look ahead with optimism for the 2022–23 academic year and will continue to keep you informed about JHU’s plans in the coming months.

Sincerely,

Stephen Gange

Professor and Executive Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

Kevin Shollenberger

Vice Provost for Student Health and Well-Being

Rachelle Hernandez

Vice Provost for Student Affairs

Pierre Joanis

Vice President for Human Resources

Jon Links

Professor, Vice Provost, and Chief Risk Officer

Dear Johns Hopkins community:

Given the continued improvements in COVID trends and after additional consultation with our experts in public health and infectious disease, we are now prepared to relax our indoor masking policy for vaccinated affiliates at Johns Hopkins University.

Since community transmission levels have continued to fall, as recorded on the JHU online testing dashboard and the JHU Coronavirus Resource Center, we feel confident to announce that effective immediately, masking in university administrative spaces, research labs, public spaces, public events, athletic facilities and nonclassroom communal spaces such as residence halls and libraries, will be optional for those who are vaccinated and boosted.

Until community transmission levels reach an even lower level, however, masks will remain required in classrooms, lab- and studio-based classes, and other spaces where instruction of university courses takes place. Mask use will be optional for instructors/presenters in classrooms if they are able to maintain a 6-foot distance from others in the room. Those who have been granted exceptions from the vaccination mandate will still be required to wear masks indoors. Mandatory once-weekly testing for students and twice-weekly testing for all affiliates with approved vaccination/booster exceptions remain in effect.

School of Medicine affiliates will continue to follow Johns Hopkins Medicine’s policies.

We have adopted this phased approach to relaxing our indoor masking requirement in consideration of the unique circumstances of our university community and in continued consultation with Johns Hopkins public health and medical experts, the University Pandemic Academic Advisory Committee, the Student Advisory Committee, and others. This decision follows the elimination of citywide indoor mask mandates in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. on March 1.

We know that many people hold strong personal feelings about masking. We also know that consistent, proper use of high-quality face masks is one of the most effective measures to limit the spread of COVID. We thus encourage students, faculty, and staff to continue masking if that makes them more comfortable or if they have particular circumstances that influence their personal level of risk. Free N95, KN95, KF94, and surgical masks to wear in combination with cloth masks will be available across the campus throughout the semester.

We are also moving ahead immediately with two changes that we previously announced would begin on March 19. Starting today:

Food service will be allowed at indoor events. Physical distancing should still be maintained where feasible. Remaining restrictions on off-campus business meals, which are currently limited to four people together, also are lifted.
Campus guests older than 5 years old who will be inside campus-operated buildings in the U.S. are expected to comply with university COVID vaccination requirements already in place for our affiliates. Details of those requirements and how they apply to campus guests are available on the vaccination page of the coronavirus information website.

We will continue to evaluate public health conditions and may lift remaining mask mandates if community COVID rates reach a lower level, likely not before the rate is less than 10 new cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days. If rates appear to rise over a sustained period, we may reinstate a broad masking requirement and other measures to ensure community safety.

Thank you for your diligence in following JHU’s policies throughout this pandemic. Details are updated regularly on the JHU Coronavirus Information website. We will continue to keep you informed and appreciate your collective efforts in pursuing Johns Hopkins’ mission while encouraging safety as much as possible.

Be well,

Stephen Gange

Professor and Executive Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

Pierre Joanis

Vice President for Human Resources

Jon Links

Professor, Vice Provost, and Chief Risk Officer

Kevin Shollenberger

Vice Provost for Student Health and Well-Being

Dear Johns Hopkins community:

As you may know, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott announced Thursday that the city’s indoor masking requirement will be lifted on March 1, in concert with the previously announced end to the Washington, D.C., mask mandate. We have consulted with our experts in public health and infectious disease, and mindful of the particular circumstances of our campus community, we have chosen not to lift our own mask mandate or change the type of mask that is required at that time.

We are heartened by the reduction in both case rates and severe complications requiring hospitalization locally and nationally, and we are hopeful that we will soon be able to relax our mask requirements in a phased manner. However, we know that consistent, proper use of high-quality face masks is one of the most effective measures to limit the spread of COVID-19, and given the difficulty of maintaining physical distancing in many university settings, we are taking a conservative approach to relaxing this mandate. We will continue to closely monitor conditions on campus and in the broader community and will keep you updated.

Meanwhile, based on the high vaccination and booster rates within our community and the improvements in public health conditions that have already taken place, we are able to immediately relax several other policies, with additional loosening of the rules planned for next month. (School of Medicine affiliates will continue to follow Johns Hopkins Medicine’s policies.)

Effective immediately:

Health checks for JHU affiliates coming to JHU campuses using Prodensity will no longer be required. We encourage keeping the app on your mobile device as we will continue to use it to communicate important information about testing sites and our COVID protocols. As we detailed in our 11/19 communication, no one should come to campus when they are sick.  
Given the continued low occurrence of COVID cases on campus, we are returning to a requirement of once-weekly, mandatory asymptomatic testing for undergraduate and graduate students. Mandatory weekly testing is expected to remain for the rest of the spring term, and testing continues to be available to faculty, staff, trainees, and postdocs who want it. Details are on the JHU coronavirus information website. As is currently the case, testing requirements will vary in some divisions based on the nature of certain programs. In those cases, students will receive additional instruction from their divisions. Individuals who have approved exceptions to the university vaccination or booster policy must continue to test twice a week.

Effective March 19:

Food service will be allowed at indoor events, and on-campus dining will return without capacity restrictions. Physical distancing should still be maintained where feasible. Remaining restrictions on off-campus business meals, which are currently limited to four people together, also will be lifted.
Campus guests older than 5 years old who will be inside campus-operated buildings in the U.S. are expected to comply with university COVID vaccination requirements already in place for our affiliates. Details of those requirements and how they apply to campus guests are available on the vaccination page of the coronavirus information website.

We are pleased that we have been able to take a number of steps this semester to relax the restrictions put in place during the delta and omicron waves, but we will remain observant of the conditions locally and nationally and will not hesitate to change course if necessary to protect our campus community and our neighbors. We have certainly learned by now that the progression of this pandemic is not linear, and we should all be prepared for the possibility that we may again have to impose additional public health protections. We thank you for your continued patience and flexibility, and your collective commitment to pursuing Johns Hopkins’ mission as safely as possible.

Be well,

Stephen Gange

Professor and Executive Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

Jon Links

Professor, Vice Provost, and Chief Risk Officer

Kevin Shollenberger

Vice Provost for Student Health and Well-Being

Interim Vice Provost for Student Affairs

Meredith Stewart
Interim Vice President for Human Resources

Dear Johns Hopkins Community:

Our efforts to make sure every eligible affiliate has a COVID booster shot have been very successful, and we appreciate your help in making our campuses as safe as possible. If you are eligible for the booster but still have not gotten one, there are two more clinics coming up.

A clinic for JHU community affiliates is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 14, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Freshman Annex.
JHU is sponsoring a clinic that is open to members of the public ages 12 and up, as well as JHU affiliates, on Monday, Feb. 28, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Bunting Meyerhoff Interfaith and Community Service Center, 3509 N. Charles St.

For the clinic at the Freshman Annex, you must book in advance via MyChart. Registration through MyChart is also encouraged for the Feb. 28 clinic if you want to be guaranteed a spot, but walk-ins are welcome. JHU affiliates who are eligible and will be on our campuses must upload documentation of their booster shots into the Vaccine Management System as soon as possible.

As we look forward to a spring semester where we continue to keep COVID cases low on our campuses, we are also committed to the well-being of the Baltimore community. In addition to the work we have done throughout the pandemic to provide our neighbors in Baltimore with masks and other supplies, we are now helping several partner organizations in the community give city residents approximately 30,000 N95 and KN95 masks and more than 6,000 free, take-home rapid covid tests. More information on our community support activities is on the JHU Coronavirus Information website.

Thank you for being a part of our plans for a safe, healthy, and successful semester.

Sincerely,

Stephen Gange

Professor and Executive Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

Jon Links

Professor, Vice Provost, and Chief Risk Officer

Meredith Stewart

Interim Vice President for Human Resources

Kevin Shollenberger

Vice Provost for Student Health & Well-Being and Interim Vice Provost for Student Affairs

Dear Johns Hopkins Community:

We continue to look forward to the beginning of the spring semester on Jan. 24 and are working to resume a broad range of in-person academic, research, and other activities as safely as possible. Two years into the pandemic, we know the strain on our community is great and that coming together in person is vitally important to the well-being and progress of our students in particular. As always, we are carefully considering how best to sustain the safe environment we’ve been able to create on our campuses throughout the pandemic.

As you know, the data suggest that omicron is more easily transmissible than other variants of the COVID virus and that it progresses more quickly but typically results in less severe illness and fewer hospitalizations—particularly among those who have been fully vaccinated, including booster doses. Those characteristics, as well as the near universal rate of vaccination within our community, make the surge we are experiencing now different from the one we faced a year ago. In response, we are taking the following steps:

Masks. We will require the use of N95s, KN95s, or a combination of a cloth mask with a surgical mask. A cloth mask alone or a surgical mask alone will no longer meet the university’s mask requirement. School of Medicine affiliates will continue to follow Johns Hopkins Medicine’s masking policy. We will distribute a variety of mask types at numerous locations around the university, on all campuses, beginning next week. Whatever kind of university-approved mask you use, the most important thing is to wear it consistently and properly—with a tight fit and covering both the mouth and the nose.
Booster mandate. We are glad to see so many of you getting ahead of our Feb. 1 deadline for booster shots. Boosters offer significant protection against omicron, and we urge you to get yours as soon as you are eligible. Information about on-campus booster clinics and how to sign up for a shot is available on the JHU Coronavirus Information website. Once you get your booster, you must register it in the Vaccine Management System, even if it is registered in MyChart.
Testing. In order to catch COVID cases more quickly and reduce the likelihood of outbreaks on campus, we have increased to twice a week our current mandatory testing requirements for undergraduate and graduate students who will be on campus, and we encourage faculty and staff to take advantage of our on-demand asymptomatic testing, which is available at a wide variety of locations across our campuses. Directions on scheduling an appointment through MyChart are available online.
Return tests for undergraduates living in residence halls. In addition to the increased testing above, undergraduates living on campus will be required to test immediately upon their arrival and to quarantine in their rooms until they receive a negative result. Students arriving the weekend of Jan. 21-23 will be given a rapid antigen self-test so that we can be assured that they will get their results in advance of the first day of classes on Jan. 24. Details will be sent to undergraduate students in a follow-up message.
Academic flexibility. While we remain committed to a full return to campus and onsite instruction, we anticipate that both faculty and students may face challenges in maintaining academic continuity during the next two weeks as we return to campus and resume testing. It is important that we all treat one another with empathy and understanding, and in some circumstances exercise flexibility in how we maintain teaching and learning. Our divisions will provide temporary adjustments as needed to faculty whose ability to teach in person is impacted by the pandemic, owing to circumstances such as unexpected school closures and other child care disruptions, the need to care for family members, etc. Faculty will continue to take steps to support students in keeping up with their coursework if they are required to isolate or quarantine.
Hybrid and remote work for staff. Thanks to your adherence to public health measures, our campuses remain safe, but we recognize that this is a challenging time for many members of our workforce in terms of managing the personal and family disruptions of the pandemic. For that reason, we will extend the period of increased workplace flexibility (announced on Dec. 31) until Feb. 7, at the discretion of each division. To the extent that staff can perform some or all of their work remotely, subject to departmental or divisional approvals, they may do so, and we extend our continued gratitude to all those employees who are and have been working in person during this time.
Isolation housing. We have substantially increased our inventory of isolation housing compared to last semester, and we have adjusted our protocols to ensure we are prioritizing its use to house those undergraduates whose living situations put them at most risk of spreading the virus to others. Undergraduates living in residence halls are our first priority because congregate living often makes isolation in place difficult. Undergraduates living off campus are no longer required to isolate in university-provided housing; such housing cannot be guaranteed for off-campus students but may be made available if inventories allow and considering the student’s individual circumstances. Depending on conditions, students may be required to isolate in their rooms.
Quarantine. Consistent with CDC guidelines and the advice of our own experts in public health and infectious disease, fully vaccinated (including a booster) individuals are no longer required to quarantine after a meaningful contact. Those students who are required to quarantine (e.g., those who have received a vaccine exception or are not yet boosted) will do so in their own rooms or residences, even in shared living situations.
Contact tracing. Because omicron appears to develop and spread more quickly than previous variants, our existing manual system of contact tracing is less effective. Instead, we have adopted an automated system in which those who test positive will fill out a form listing their close contacts, and those close contacts will then be notified by email.
Dining facilities and events. We will move to grab-and-go service at our residential dining facilities, and special permission will be required for all nonacademic indoor events of 50 people or more through Feb. 6. Grab-and-go food at events is suspended during this period.

COVID is a serious and exhausting challenge, but it is important to emphasize how much better prepared we are to face the virus now than we were when it first emerged almost two years ago. The steps you have taken—vaccination, mask-wearing, testing and more—have contributed immeasurably to the safety of our community and to our ability to meet our mission of education, research, and service. At this time of higher community prevalence, we ask you to be particularly careful to monitor yourself for symptoms and to stay home and get tested if you are sick. We thank you for your continued diligence in the weeks ahead.

Stay safe and be well,

Stephen Gange

Professor and Executive Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

Jon Links

Professor, Vice Provost, and Chief Risk Officer

Kevin Shollenberger

Vice Provost for Student Health and Well-Being

Interim Vice Provost for Student Affairs

Dear Johns Hopkins Community:

We write to announce that all eligible Johns Hopkins University faculty, staff, postdoctoral fellows, and undergraduate and graduate students who will be working or studying at a U.S.-based university campus or worksite will be required to get either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID booster shot by Feb. 1.

Affiliates who are 100% remote—that is, those who never come to any Johns Hopkins facility or conduct business publicly on Johns Hopkins' behalf—remain exempt. Members of clinical departments at the School of Medicine will be governed by Johns Hopkins Health System vaccination policies. More details of who is included in JHU's vaccine requirements are on the Coronavirus Information website. Questions can be directed by email to [email protected].

Emerging evidence has shown that immunity to COVID wanes over time, particularly against the omicron variant, but that booster shots of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine provide significant additional protection. We believe this step will help prevent disruptions to our plans for an in-person spring semester.

Document your booster: Upload proof of your booster shot to the Vaccine Management System (VMS) now, or as soon as you’ve had your shot.
Eligibility: You are eligible for a booster if you got your second shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine six months ago or more, or the single shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine more than two months ago. If you have received two doses of J&J, you should get a Pfizer or Moderna booster six months after your second J&J shot.
New international students: If you have gotten a vaccine authorized by the World Health Organization but not one authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, you are immediately eligible for a booster (you may wait 28 days following your last dose). Only one booster dose (either Pfizer or Moderna) is required for those individuals. This is a change from previous university policy (which required those with international vaccines to be revaccinated), based on emerging science related to the efficacy of boosters.
Rolling deadline: Those who are not yet eligible for a booster as of Feb. 1 will be required to receive a booster as soon as they become eligible (six months after a second shot of Pfizer or Moderna, six months after a J&J booster, or two months after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine). Those individuals will have two weeks after they become eligible to get the booster and upload their documentation to the Vaccine Management System.
Exceptions: If you have an approved medical or religious exemption to the COVID vaccine, it carries over to the booster requirement. You do not need to apply again.
Don’t delay: If you can get a booster shot prior to the return to campus in January, we urge you to do so. Booster appointments can be made now through MyChart or at state and local vaccination sites and pharmacies. Additional on-campus clinics for boosters are in the process of being scheduled. See the Coronavirus Information website for the most up-to-date information.

In the meantime, we urge you to take precautions to keep yourself and the community safe: Wear a mask, get tested regularly, monitor yourself for symptoms, avoid large gatherings (particularly indoors), and complete the Prodensity health check questions each day you’re on campus.

If you have any symptoms (even if you think it’s just a cold) or if you know you have been exposed to COVID, don’t come to campus and call the JHCCC at 443-287-8500 for guidance.

For APL staff members who work, teach, or attend classes at other JHU or JHM campuses, the mandates for each campus apply and can supersede APL guidelines.

We are pleased to let you know that since last week’s cluster among graduate students, new cases have significantly declined, and we have not seen secondary transmission related to that incident. Still, the omicron variant appears to be highly contagious. Vaccination and boosters are important tools, and we all need to do our parts to keep our community and neighbors healthy.

We hope you will have a safe conclusion to the fall semester and an opportunity to rest over the holidays.

Stephen Gange

Professor and Executive Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

Jon Links

Professor, Vice Provost, and Chief Risk Officer

Kevin Shollenberger
Vice Provost for Student Health & Well-Being
Interim Vice Provost for Student Affairs

Dear Johns Hopkins Community:

We hope you have plans for a relaxing and enjoyable winter break. We also hope that in your remaining days on campus and during time away you continue to exercise good public health practices. We have seen some uptick in cases among members of the Johns Hopkins community since Thanksgiving, including our first detected instance of the omicron variant, and we urge you to continue masking and exercising caution about social gatherings.

Before many of us are away from campus, we have a few reminders and some helpful information for you.

JHU Testing Over Winter Break and Upon Returning

If you will not be on campus for the entire break (Dec. 22 through Jan. 23), you do not need to test.

For those who are required to test regularly: If you are away from campus for an entire week (Monday morning to Sunday night) you do not need to test that week. However, if you are on campus at all—even if only once and very briefly—you will need to get tested as follows:

If you have an exception to the vaccine mandate and normally test two times per week, you will still be required to test. If you plan to be on campus only one day during a given week over the break, you will only be required to test only once.
If you normally test one time per week, you will still be required to test one time.

When you return to campus, please resume testing at one of the on-campus testing sites. Your Prodensity Campus Pass will remain RED until you are compliant with testing and have a negative result. Review the diagnostic testing page of the JHU Coronavirus Information website for information on how to make a testing appointment in MyChart.

Changes to the schedule for university testing sites (including both symptomatic and asymptomatic sites) are on the testing locations + schedules page of the Coronavirus Information website. If you develop any symptoms, please call the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Call Center at 443-287-8500.

Regular testing requirements (once or twice per week) for students and those with exceptions will resume on Tuesday, Jan. 4. School of Medicine affiliates will continue to follow Johns Hopkins Medicine’s policies.

Vaccine Boosters

Vaccination remains the best way to minimize the risk of illness and help protect your health and the health of those who are more vulnerable or not yet eligible for vaccination. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has expanded eligibility for the COVID-19 booster to everyone age 16 and older. We strongly recommend boosters for all eligible affiliates; appointments can be made at JHM, retail pharmacies, mobile vaccination clinics (walk-up) and local and state vaccination sites.

If you haven’t already done so, the winter break is a great time to get your booster so that you can return for the spring semester with an added layer of protection against COVID.

While boosters are not currently required by Johns Hopkins, they may be in the future, so we encourage you to register your booster within the Vaccine Management System when you get it.

Information for Students Who Are Traveling

Students who will not be on campus for the winter break should register their travel in Prodensity. The university does not need to “approve” travel, but the travel registration will ensure that you are not marked as noncompliant for mandatory testing while you are away from campus. Employees do not need to register their travel.

We recommend (but do not require) that students get tested for COVID-19 prior to starting their trip back to Baltimore. This is especially important if you have any symptoms that may be consistent with COVID-19. If you have a positive COVID test while you are away, please call the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Call Center at 443-287-8500 for instructions about when you are allowed to return to campus and how we can assist you.

International Travelers

If you plan to travel internationally, new federal requirements recently enacted require you to get a COVID-19 viral test (regardless of vaccination status or citizenship) no more than one day before you travel by air into the United States. You must show your negative result to the airline before you board your flight. If you recently recovered from COVID-19, you may instead travel with documentation of your recovery (i.e., your positive COVID-19 viral test result on a sample taken no more than 90 days before the flight’s departure from a foreign country and a letter from a licensed healthcare provider or a public health official stating that you were cleared to travel).

For students who are traveling internationally, we remind you that countries may restrict travel within their borders, lock down movement, add entry restrictions, and/or change quarantine requirements at any time. If this happens and you cannot return to the United States to continue your studies, there is no guarantee that academic programs will have a remote option, and you may need to return to resume your studies next fall.

Staying Safe Over the Break

Remember, outdoors remains a safer environment than indoors. When you must gather indoors, avoid crowded or poorly ventilated areas. Monitor yourself for occurrence of symptoms and minimize contact if symptoms develop.

Everyone in communities with substantial or high transmission rates should wear a mask while in public indoor settings, regardless of vaccination status. If you are not fully vaccinated, you should wear a mask anytime you are in a public indoor setting.

The CDC has created guidance for safer ways to celebrate holidays and we encourage you to review it.

If each of us follows a few simple precautions, we can enjoy safer travel and celebrating over winter break and protect the health of our JHU friends, classmates, and colleagues when we return.

Happy holidays and best wishes for the new year,

Kevin Shollenberger

Vice Provost for Student Health and Well-Being

Interim Vice Provost for Student Affairs

Meredith Stewart

Interim Vice President for Human Resources    

Stephen Gange      

Professor and Executive Vice Provost for Academic Affairs      

Jon Links      

Professor, Vice Provost, and Chief Risk Officer

Dear Johns Hopkins Community:

Welcome back! We hope you had a relaxing and fun Thanksgiving break. As you return to campus, please take a minute to assess how you are feeling. We have already seen flu and COVID cases among members of our campus community who assumed they “just had a cold” and came to campus with symptoms. If you have any COVID or flu-like symptoms, including fever, muscle or body aches, coughing, congestion or a runny nose, difficulty breathing, diarrhea, or fatigue, do not come to campus. Instead, call the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Call Center (JHCCC), whose representatives will likely suggest that you get tested for COVID and, in some cases, for flu. The center's number is 443-287-8500. Do not attend work/class or gather with friends until the JHCCC calls you with your test results and gives you further instructions. If you hear that someone at a Thanksgiving gathering you attended has now tested positive, call the JHCCC and follow its instructions.

Faculty have been asked to honor the JHCCC’s directives to students. We do not want students with symptoms or who may have been exposed to the virus to come to campus without first speaking with the JHCCC. It is likely that the JHCCC will tell such students to remain at home until tested.

Even if you are feeling well, it's important to resume mandatory testing immediately. All vaccinated students are required to test once each week; all unvaccinated students and employees (those with exceptions) are required to test twice each week, except for School of Medicine affiliates, who follow Johns Hopkins Medicine's once-weekly testing policy. Even if you are not required to test weekly, you may consider getting tested, particularly if you have been traveling. Testing is available at several JHU asymptomatic COVID testing sites.

As we are sure you all have seen in the media, there is a new COVID variant of concern (omicron) that has been reported in the last several days. While much remains to be learned about this variant, and no reports have yet occurred in the U.S., mutations that have the potential for the COVID virus to be more competitive (as occurred with delta) continue to be of concern. Johns Hopkins experts will be carefully monitoring the occurrence of this variant and urge the community to remain vigilant and continue adhering to COVID testing and other measures we have put into place as detailed on the JHU Coronavirus Information website and in community messages.

If you haven't already gotten the flu shot, the deadline is this coming Friday, Dec. 3. This webpage has information on upcoming Johns Hopkins flu clinics. Unless you were vaccinated at an on-campus flu clinic and had your ID card swiped, you must upload proof to the Vaccine Management System or obtain an approved exception. If you want to check your status, you can go to https://vms.jh.edu/.

Again, welcome back to campus!

Kevin Shollenberger

Vice Provost for Student Health and Well-Being

Interim Vice Provost for Student Affairs

Meredith Stewart

Interim Vice President for Human Resources

Stephen Gange

Professor and Executive Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

Jon Links

Professor, Vice Provost, and Chief Risk Officer

Dear Johns Hopkins Community,

We write to remind you of one of the most important public health precautions you can take as the COVID pandemic continues and flu season ramps up: Do not come to campus if you are sick.

We are already seeing flu cases in addition to COVID cases among members of our campus community. In a number of instances, people assumed they “just had a cold” and came to campus with symptoms. Please remember that neither the COVID vaccine nor the flu vaccine automatically prevent infection or transmission to others with whom you interact; the main point of vaccination is to significantly reduce the risk of severe illness. If you are vaccinated and contract COVID or the flu, your symptoms may be mild, but you are still infected and still able to transmit the disease to others who may not be so fortunate.

If you have any COVID or flu-like symptoms, including fever, muscle or body aches, coughing, congestion or a runny nose, difficulty breathing, diarrhea, or fatigue, do not come to campus or work. Instead, call the Johns Hopkins COVID Call Center (JHCCC) at 443-287-8500, which will almost always result in you getting tested for COVID. In some cases, you will also be tested for the flu.

Additionally, please do not return to campus or work, or travel, until the JHCCC calls you with your test results and gives you further instructions.

As a reminder, students should use Prodensity’s Travel Registry feature to pause testing requirements when they are away from campus (or while traveling for holidays).

Sincerely,

Kevin Shollenberger

Vice Provost for Student Health and Well-Being

Interim Vice Provost for Student Affairs

Meredith Stewart

Interim Vice President for Human Resources

Stephen Gange

Professor and Executive Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

Jon Links Professor, Vice Provost, and Chief Risk Officer