Earlier today, University leaders wrote to inform our community that we are enacting
new, temporary restrictions, effective tonight, in response to a rise
in COVID-19 cases.
This rise in new cases is appearing on-Grounds and off-Grounds, and is not confined to a
particular residence hall or other residence.
Our aggressive testing rolled out this semester has allowed us to more quickly identify cases,
and contact tracing through VDH continues to help us target outreach and follow-up through
quarantine and isolation.
In order to quickly to reverse this spike in cases, and protect the health and safety
of the UVA community and our Charlottesville neighbors, we need to impose greater restrictions
for a temporary period of time.
All in-person events and gatherings, on- and off-Grounds, are prohibited and should
be moved online.
See the email you received for more information on what constitutes a gathering.
On-Grounds students may leave their residence hall for essential activities such as:
Attend an in-person class, eating at a dining hall or picking up a meal, or others identified
in the email you received today.
Off-Grounds students are encouraged to remain at home and limit contact with individuals
outside of their living arrangement.
Off-Grounds students may only come to Grounds to:
Attend class, eat at a dining hall or pick up food if they have a meal plan, take a COVID-19
test or go to work at an on-Grounds job.
Recreational facilities will be closed throughout this period, and libraries will
offer contact-less pickup only.
Dining facilities will remain open and grab-and-go options will be available.
In-person seating will be restricted though, to no more than 2 people together.
Research operations will continue, with any modifications determined by the VP for
Research and the Provost.
All instruction will continue to be either in person, hybrid, or online for undergraduate,
as well as graduate and professional students.
The rise in cases we are seeing is directly related to individual decisions to ignore
-- even for one night -- or outright violate the University’s health and safety protocols
that we know can stop transmission of the virus.
When people gather in numbers larger than mandated, remove their masks when they’re
around others, sit or stand too closely, or make other decisions to sidestep these protocols,
the virus spreads.
Large events are a particular risk, but transmission is also occurring when just a few people gather
too closely together and forego a mask.
We are seeing transmission in a variety of venues and a variety of ways.
Fortunately, we all have agency in what happens next.
A virus that spreads when people make the wrong decision can’t spread as easily when
people make the right one.
If we spend the next 10 days making the right decisions, cases will fall as they did after
the spike last September when students redoubled their efforts at compliance.
Once case counts go down and this recent trend is reversed, our quarantine and isolation
spaces will free up, and we will be able to lift these enhanced restrictions.
I recognize today is Mardi Gras and tomorrow is a break day with no classes.
However, I urge you not to use this as an excuse to violate these enhanced restrictions
and make a bad situation worse.
Those undergraduates who recently joined fraternities and sororities must immediately step back
from any planned new member activities that cannot be conducted wholly online.
Those of you who had planned even small events or gatherings with your clubs and friend groups
must also cancel those plans until the enhanced restrictions are lifted.
This includes activities for which an exception had been granted by the special committee
for seeing those exceptions through.
There can be no gatherings during this enhanced restriction period.
I recognize this has been a difficult academic year and you’re tired, as the COVID marathon
we’ve all been running is now a year old and still ongoing.
If you’re in need of help, the University offers resources to assist you.
But frustration with the pandemic’s impact on your college experience cannot be an excuse
to endanger the health of other people.
Last September, after a surge in cases required the University to enact new restrictions in
order to keep people safe, you responded and we got the spike in cases under control.
This is another pivotal moment with an even greater threat given new, more contagious
variants of the virus, but we can reverse the virus’ upward trend once again if we take
the steps as individuals that will result in our community bending the curve and keeping
each other healthy and safe.
We will aggressively enforce these enhanced restrictions, but our hope is that everyone
will recognize the impact of their individual decisions and do the right thing.