Scope

This information applies to activities occurring in Harvard’s academic, administrative, and public spaces, known as “on campus” spaces.

On campus space examples:

• Buildings and open spaces within Harvard’s Cambridge and Boston campuses
• Harvard’s academic, administrative, and research buildings (owned by and leased by Harvard)
• Harvard residence halls and dormitories
• Harvard-operated vehicles

On campus spaces don’t apply to:

• Private apartment buildings or other real estate owned by Harvard University Real Estate (Harvard University Housing apartment buildings)
• Spaces operated by Harvard-affiliated non-Harvard entities, such as hospitals that are affiliated with Harvard Medical School

Instructions

Please review and follow the Public Health section’s general guidance.

School and unit leadership should monitor this information for updates relevant to their communities and ensure it is shared with those who need to know within their school or unit.

If, in rare cases, you feel that a specific situation offers compelling reasons to be more permissive than outlined, consult Harvard University Health Services (HUHS) and EHS.

For simplicity, we refer to both the disease (COVID-19) and the virus (SARS-CoV-2) as COVID-19.

Per Massachusetts’ face mask advisory for fully vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, if you are fully vaccinated you should wear a mask indoors if either:

• Your immune system is weakened or your age or an underlying medical condition increases your risk of severe disease.
• Someone in your household has a weakened immune system, is at increased risk for severe disease, or is unvaccinated.

The Department of Public Health particularly urges this recommendation if:

• You have a weakened immune system.
• An underlying medical condition increases your risk of severe disease.
• Someone in your household has a weakened immune system or is at increased risk for severe disease.
• You are an unvaccinated adult.

Face coverings and masks must be worn in healthcare facilities per federal and Massachusetts requirements.

Harvard's requirements for testing positive for COVID-19 are based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) current guidance.

Harvard retired the HUHS contact tracing team and Crimson Clear on December 22, 2022:

• Harvard students and employees don’t have to report positive COVID-19 cases to HUHS.

  Those who test positive should manage their isolation and discharge independently. Refer to HUHS, which reflects current CDC guidance. Direct medical and symptom questions to your primary care physician clinician as needed.

• Students who test positive should continue to follow local guidance for whom to contact about academic or residential accommodations. Students don’t need to notify HUHS unless the infection affects the 90-day timing of their mandatory COVID-19 vaccination.
• Employees who test positive should notify their manager of their positive case and their anticipated return-to-work date. Employees and their managers should work together, following standard Human Resources policies.

General use face coverings are optional in most indoor spaces on Harvard premises. Limited exceptions apply.

We strongly encourage you to consult the CDC's COVID-19 community levels for the Cambridge (Middlesex county) and Boston (Suffolk county) campuses to help make personal mask usage choices.

You are strongly encouraged to wear a well-fitting mask indoors in public areas classified as "high", regardless of your vaccination status or individual risk. If you are immunocompromised or at high risk for severe illness, the CDC recommends that you wear a mask or respirator that provides you with greater protection, even when community risk is classified as "medium".

If you begin exhibiting undiagnosed symptoms of COVID-19 you must wear a mask and be tested for COVID-19. Continue to wear a mask and limit contact with others while awaiting your test results. See Viral Testing for more information on testing.

Harvard encourages you to have an acceptable face covering with you at all times for situations in which it may be required. We strongly recommend voluntary masking indoors and in crowded settings outdoors. High-quality disposable masks, worn with no gaps at the edges, can protect both you the wearer and those around you from COVID-19.

Continue to comply with face covering use guidelines in situations that require face coverings.

"General use" applies to faculty, staff, students, and visitors who must wear a face covering per current Harvard policy for source control on Harvard's premises.

Face coverings provide source control and protect others from potentially infectious droplets that may be generated by the wearer, which is particularly important as people can spread the SARS-COV-2 virus without showing symptoms.

Everyone is welcome to continue wearing a mask of any type for their own protection, or to protect someone else, if they choose to do so. Nobody should be made to feel uncomfortable, unwelcome, or marginalized because they choose to wear a mask.

In limited situations when face coverings are required, anyone on campus not adhering to Harvard’s face coverings policy may be asked to leave campus or be subject to administrative action.

Where are face coverings required?

You must wear face coverings in HUHS and other healthcare facilities and other settings hosting vulnerable populations.

Follow CDC isolation and precautions for removing your mask when completing isolation or quarantine. Masks are generally required through day 10 at minimum, even if your isolation ends after five days.

Schools and units may continue to require masking in certain settings, depending on their population, rates of infection, and other public health data.

In settings where you must wear face coverings, you may remove your face covering while actively eating and drinking, unless otherwise prohibited within the space.

In settings like medical clinics and laboratories, additional PPE (like N95 respirators) may be needed instead of general use face coverings.

Harvard doesn’t have a separate mask policy for unvaccinated individuals. Unvaccinated Harvard and non-Harvard community members should ask their healthcare provider if they should wear a mask or respirator indoors.

To protect the privacy of our community and visitors, vaccination status is often unknown and wearing a mask in settings where not required to is personal decision. Masking decisions should be informed by the prevalence of community cases, and your vaccination status, age, and medical history.

We strongly encourage indoor masking if you have greater health risks or concerns. Masks continue to be highly effective in reducing risk of transmission regardless of vaccination status.

Personal hygiene includes hand washing, coughing, sneezing, etc. Harvard provides some COVID-19 health and wellbeing personal hygiene requirements and resources.

If you are wearing a face covering and cannot safely remove it to cough or sneeze using tissues, you should cough or sneeze into your elbow while wearing your mask. Be sure to turn away from others and remain as distanced as possible.

Per HUHS, you must fulfill your healthcare provider’s or the CDC’s isolation guidance before returning to work or other activities.

Negative COVID-19 tests are not required to return to work, except in limited circumstances for Harvard healthcare and childcare workers.

Students who test positive should continue to follow local guidance for whom to contact about academic or residential accommodations. Students don’t need to notify HUHS unless the infection affects the 90-day timing of their mandatory COVID-19 vaccination.

Employees who test positive should notify their manager of their positive case and their anticipated return-to-work date. Employees and their managers should work together, following standard Human Resources policies.

Harvard requires all students who will be on campus to be up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations.

Harvard works to continue the high vaccination levels needed to protect our community, and highly recommends all community members be up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations. This Harvard community includes faculty, staff, and researchers who will have any on-campus presence.

New Harvard employees must attest to receiving their primary vaccination series upon hire. Current employees don’t have to submit COVID-19 documentation to HUHS for compliance purposes.

Learn more about HUHS COVID-19 vaccine policies and requirements.

Visitors

Although Harvard’s vaccination policy only applies to its community members, some schools and units may have more restrictive policies in limited settings that require non-Harvard community member vaccination proof or attestation.

Notify non-Harvard community members that Harvard highly recommends they are up to date with their vaccinations before coming to campus. Such members include non-embedded vendors, visiting scholars, speakers, students or faculty from other academic institutions, families and guests of Harvard students, alumni, and human subjects participating in research.

Prior to arriving on campus, non-Harvard community members should check with the local school or unit they are visiting to verify specific vaccination policies that may be in place.

Find out if you are up to date with your COVID-19 vaccinations.

If you are already up to date with your vaccinations:

• Keep your vaccination card safe and make a copy for your files.
• Securely verify your vaccination if you were vaccinated outside HUHS.
• Harvard requires viral testing if you have COVID-19 symptoms or a known exposure.
• Keep practicing healthy habits, like using face coverings and physical distancing, in accordance with Harvard protocols.

Schools and units may voluntarily choose to extend Harvard’s vaccination requirements to non-Harvard community members, including members of the general public, if they meet these conditions:

• Schools and units can’t keep vaccination cards records, proof of vaccination, or COVID-19 test results.
• Schools and units requiring vaccination must determine how they will handle vaccination exemption requests. HUHS cannot review and process exemption forms.

  Schools and units may require unvaccinated individuals to attest or display proof of a recent negative COVID-19 test (within the past calendar day prior to campus activity).

  Schools and units may instead require vaccination attestation or exemption, rather than proof. Attestation strategies include signage at entries, inclusion in registration process or forms, and sign-in sheets.

  Use this language when requiring attestation:

  "I attest that I satisfy one of the following requirements:

  • I am up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations per the current CDC definition, or
  • I qualify for exemption based upon age, a medical contraindication, or firmly held religious belief.”

Schools and units may choose to require non-Harvard community member vaccination proof or attestation or a negative COVID-19 test result (within the past calendar day).

• Schools and units requiring vendor attestations should contact their vendor relationship manager and provide the written attestation form for vendor workers to sign or otherwise confirm before coming to campus.
• Schools and units can require unvaccinated individuals to attest or display proof of a recent negative COVID-19 test (within the past calendar day prior to campus activity).
• To help review proof of vaccination, schools and units may encourage using digital vaccine cards (through My Vax Records if you received your vaccine in Massachusetts).

  We don’t recommend any other apps for reviewing vaccination proof besides My Vax Records.

• All current and applicable Harvard COVID-19 policies and protocols must be followed regardless of visitor and program participant vaccination status.

  Harvard community members aren’t expected to further disclose their vaccination status to individual schools or units.

Change Contact: Cynthia Parenteau

After COVID-19 Exposure

Updates reflect Crimson Clear discontinuation. Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 now manages their isolation and discharge independently. Refer to HUHS, which reflects current CDC guidance.

Face Coverings

Clarifies that individuals completing isolation or quarantine should follow CDC isolation and precautions for removing your mask. Masks are generally required through day 10 at minimum, even if your isolation ends after five days.

Isolation

Updates reflect Crimson Clear discontinuation. Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 now manages their isolation and discharge independently. Refer to HUHS, which reflects current CDC guidance.

Return to Work and Other Activities After Isolation

Updates reflect Crimson Clear discontinuation. Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 now manages their isolation and discharge independently. Refer to HUHS, which reflects current CDC guidance.

A negative COVID-19 test is not required to return to work, except in limited circumstances for Harvard's healthcare and childcare workers.

Vaccination

Updates include Harvard’s current COVID-19 vaccination policy:

Harvard requires all students who will be on campus to be up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations. Harvard works to continue the high vaccination levels needed to protect our community, and highly recommends all community members be up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations. This Harvard community includes faculty, staff, and researchers who will have any on-campus presence.

New Harvard employees must attest to receiving their primary vaccination series upon hire. As of December 22, 2022, current employees don’t have to submit COVID-19 documentation to HUHS for compliance purposes.

Recommended attestation language updates replace full vaccination plus booster requirements for those eligible with “I am up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccinations per the current CDC definition”.

Viral Testing

Updates reflect Harvard’s viral testing program’s discontinuation. Resources direct Harvard community members to getting rapid antigen tests.

Change Contact: Cynthia Parenteau

Face Coverings

Boston and Cambridge campuses are now classified as "low" in the CDC's COVID-19 community level.

We have revised our guidance to reiterate that although general use face coverings remain optional in most indoor spaces, we recommend individuals continue consulting the CDC's COVID-19 community levels for the Cambridge and Boston campuses (Middlesex and Suffolk counties respectively) to help make a personal choice on mask usage.

Wearing a well-fitting mask indoors in public, regardless of vaccination status or individual risk, is strongly encouraged in areas classified as "high". The CDC also recommends that if you are immunocompromised or at high risk for severe illness you wear a mask or respirator that provides you with greater protection, even when community risk is classified as "medium".

See Face Coverings for additional details.

Change Contact: Cynthia Parenteau

Cleaning and Disinfection

Enhanced cleaning of non-healthcare facilities and spaces is no longer required. The CDC reiterates the low risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission via surface contamination. Harvard community members should, nonetheless, wash their hands before preparing food, eating, drinking, or touching their face, and after using the bathroom.

Certain limited settings, including healthcare facilities, continue to require enhanced cleaning and disinfection in between uses or visits from persons who are positive for COVID-19.

Quarantine

References to required viral testing cadences were removed.

Vaccination

Vaccination was updated to reiterate that viral testing is still required for anyone with symptoms or known exposure to COVID-19. Regular surveillance testing will continue to be available on an optional basis.

Viral Testing

Viral Testing was updated to reflect the University's shift to no longer requiring regular, surveillance testing. Testing will continue to be available on an optional basis. Anyone with COVID-19 symptoms or known exposure to COVID-19 should test.

See Harvard University COVID-19 Information: Testing & Tracing for information on this transition.

Change Contact: Cynthia Parenteau

Public Health

Face Coverings

Consistent with current local and guidelines, Face Coverings has updated to remove the mask requirement for indoor events and gatherings exceeding 250 people. Some public-facing institutions continue to require masking. These policies are being reevaluated regularly and current policies should be confirmed before visiting.

Schools and Central Administration units may continue to require masking in certain settings, depending on their population, rates of infection, and other public health data. Other limited exceptions still apply (i.e., healthcare facilities, public transit), and in such cases individuals must continue to comply with face covering general use guidelines.

Change Contact: Cynthia Parenteau

Activity & Workplace Planning:

Provided an updated overview of campus COVID-19 guidance and the timeline for adjusting protocols, including the relaxation or removal of several requirements and particularly involving the use of face masks.

Public Health:

Face Coverings

Added additional guidance for the relaxation of mask requirements that may be implemented as early as March 7, 2022 under specific school policies for locations in the City of Boston.

Change Contact: Cynthia Parenteau

Activity-Specific:

Building and Operations Open to the General Public

Added guidance to indicate that concessions and other licensed food establishments within buildings open to the general public must follow all requirements within Activity-Specific: Eating and Drinking.

Eating and Drinking

Added guidance:

Athletic and performance venues that are open to the general public may allow eating and drinking within general seating area. Attendees should be advised to reach out to the venue directly with questions regarding distanced dining options.

Events and Gatherings: Indoors

Reinstated maximum occupancy for non-sponsored indoor gatherings in private living spaces (dorm rooms) or suites within Harvard residence halls and dormitories to 25 persons, including residents. As a reminder, local policies may further restrict certain non-sponsored events and gatherings to Harvard community members only. This does not apply to common rooms within residence halls such as study spaces, lounges and meeting rooms.

Larger gatherings must be University-sponsored and supervised.
Removed language requiring hosts of gatherings within private rooms or residence halls to keep attendance for the purposes of contact tracing. All Harvard community members are expected to identify and notify their close contacts as soon as possible.

Updated guidance to allow non-Harvard community members at indoor events with a food and beverage component if the event is not open to the general public and attendees are either Harvard community members in our viral testing program or are considered official visitors and adhere to all requirements listed within Activity-Specific: Visitors.

Events and Gatherings: 2022 Winter Term

Events and Gatherings: 2022 Winter Term has been removed.

Performances and Rehearsals

Reinstated guidance to allow exemptions for unmasking during performances when authorized by local school or unit and all controls listed within Activity-Specific: Performances and Rehearsals are met.

Visitors

Added visitors to a private event to the official visitors who will have short-term or limited access on campus definition.

Public Health:

Face Coverings

When authorized by local school or unit and all controls listed are met, additional exception for unmasking was added for performing and instructional art settings.

Change Contact: Cynthia Parenteau

The Public Health: Quarantine and Public Health: Return to Work and Other Activities after Quarantine or Isolation sections have been updated to align with University protocol for using Crimson Clear and add clarifying recommendations for healthcare and childcare workers.

Change Contact: Cynthia Parenteau

Added an expanded introduction to address critical updates as we welcome students back in January 2022 and begin the spring semester.

January 12th, 2022 Update

In response to the recent surge of COVID-19 cases in our community and updates to federal, state, and local requirements, significant updates have been made to our policies and guidance for on-campus activities. These updates to the Harvard University On-Campus Activity Guidance supersede less stringent policies and recommendations until further notice. The situation will continue to be closely monitored over the next few weeks and guidance adjusted or reinstated as appropriate.

Schools and units continue to have discretion for guidance that remains a recommendation, however, unless there is a strong and compelling reason, policies should be temporarily revised to reflect all of these updates, and changes communicated to their local communities.

Federal Guidance

This section has been updated to reflect current federal guidance and CDC links.

Massachusetts and Local Requirements

This section has been updated to reflect current state and local requirements including the state mask advisory and local orders for face coverings in Boston and Cambridge.

Activity-Specific:

Classroom, Instruction, Lecture, and Designated Study Spaces

Allowance for schools and units to approve exceptions to masking policy in classrooms has been temporarily rescinded.

Instructors and professors must continue to wear face coverings in classrooms and other academic settings.

Eating and Drinking

Consistent with the last guidance update on December 18th, 2021, to the extent feasible schools and units should pivot to grab-and-go food service, separate seats by six feet in designated dining areas, and/or increase the number of seats or options for physically distanced dining. Self-service models (e.g., salad bars and hot food stations) in which all guests remain masked continue to be permitted.

Persons who have been released from isolation or quarantine prior to day 10 must remain physically distanced from others when unmasking for eating and drinking.

Events and Gatherings: 2022 Winter Term

Until further notice all food and beverages offered at indoor events and gatherings must be limited to take-out or grab-n-go.

All food and beverages from an event must be consumed within a private residence or within a designated eating and drinking space. See Activity-Specific: Eating and Drinking for more information.

Events and Gatherings: Indoors

Until further notice all food and beverages offered at indoor events and gatherings must be limited to take-out or grab-n-go.

All food and beverages from an event must be consumed within a private residence or within a designated eating and drinking space. See Activity-Specific: Eating and Drinking for more information.

Fitness: Recreational Facilities and Health Clubs

Revised guidance for swimmers to indicate they must maintain distance from other unmasked persons while on the pool deck and to the extent possible while within the pool.

Performances and Rehearsals

Allowance for Harvard performers to unmask during performances has been temporarily rescinded. All performers must wear face coverings in indoor performances and rehearsals.

Travel

This section has been updated to reflect current guidance on the Keep Harvard Healthy website.

Visitors

In response to the surge in COVID-19 cases globally and nationally, schools and units should strongly consider limiting or excluding non-essential visitors to residential spaces and non-public buildings and spaces on campus.

Consider school and unit policies that limit visitors to those with an academic-related purpose. This will be re-evaluated in the coming weeks.

Official visitors must be notified that Harvard has a vaccination and booster requirement and that they should plan to be up to date on all COVID-19 vaccinations before coming to campus.

Public Health:

Cleaning and Disinfection

Added additional guidance on cleaning shared restrooms in residential halls where community members are isolating in place: cleaning and disinfection performed by custodial staff is not necessary in private residences and within suites where all roommates are isolating in place together.

Face Coverings

Face covering section was updated to reiterate the importance of selecting and properly wearing a well-fitted mask in accordance with CDC guidance and Harvard’s indoor mask mandate.

An appropriate, tight-fitting, and multi-layered face covering provides source control that protects people around you and has been very effective in preventing transmission in combination with other control measures at Harvard University (see Use Guidelines for more information). We encourage the use of high-quality disposable masks, worn in a way that minimizes air gaps around the edges. Surgical-style masks or a cup style protective mask such as KN-95 or KF-94, layered under a form fitting fabric mask, can ensure an effective seal and good source control.

Isolation

This section has been updated to reflect new HUHS isolation instructions and expectations for community members.

Quarantine

This section has been updated to reflect new HUHS quarantine instructions and expectations for community members.

Vaccination

Added guidance on booster requirements and instructions to report. Harvard University community members are expected to receive and verify their COVID-19 booster with HUHS by January 31, 2022. Individuals who are not yet eligible to receive a booster dose by this date must receive and verify their booster dose with HUHS within 30 days after becoming eligible.

Change Contact: Cynthia Parenteau

Activity-Specific Updates:

Events and Activities: Off Campus:

The following section was added to reiterate the importance of advanced planning and communication about procedures and expectations for participants who test positive during University-sponsored, off-campus travel or events:

Schools/units and program coordinators planning off campus events of any duration, must plan and communicate the procedure in place and expectations for participants that become symptomatic or test positive during their off-campus travel or event. This should include information such as where the participants will complete their isolation, how services including food will be handled, travel plans, and cost considerations.

Events and Gatherings: 2021 Holiday & Year-End:

Added new guidance for 2021 holiday and year-end events and gatherings.

This guidance is intended to supplement existing guidance and provide more context for planning in-person events.

Although in-person events that allow eating and drinking are not prohibited, schools and units should carefully consider their local conditions or unique risk factors when planning. Multiple strategies and safety controls can be implemented to reduce risk factors.

Events and Gatherings: 2021 Holiday & Year-End:

As winter break approaches and schools, units, and departments plan holiday and year-end events and gatherings, the following should be considered:

• All minimum requirements for on-campus activity must be followed.

  Schools and units may institute more restrictive requirements to address their local needs or unique risk factors.

• Indoor, off-campus/non-sponsored social gatherings that include unmasked activities continue to be identified as a common source of exposure and positive case clusters.

  See Events and Gatherings: Indoors for more information about non-sponsored events.

• During periods of high viral transmission, increasing positive cases or clusters, and/or specific recommendations from HUHS, local policies for events may need to be adjusted.
• Plan events that do not include eating or drinking or offer to-go options at the conclusion of the event.
• Minimize unmasking activity by:
  • Limiting time for eating and drinking.
  • Assigning seats to limit close contacts while unmasked for eating and drinking.
  • Encouraging guests to have completed Color tests within 72-hours of the event (this may require an additional test beyond their normal testing cadence).
  • Reminding guests to only remove masks when actively eating and drinking and while stationary to avoid unmasked mingling among guests.
  • Providing physically distanced seating options for guests that need or choose to remain distanced while unmasking for eating and drinking.
  • Reducing the number of attendees by breaking event into smaller subsets of the school/unit or department.

Change Contact: Cynthia Parenteau

Activity-Specific Updates:

Buildings and Operations Open to the General Public:

Removed the "Harvard-sponsored" signifier under the description for events and activities open to the general public to eliminate confusion between designating individuals as "general public" or "official visitors".

Events and Gatherings: Indoors:

Updated the guidance for non-sponsored events within private living spaces (dorm rooms) or suites within Harvard residence halls and dormitories to indicate that occupancy should continue to be limited and may not exceed the occupancy limit determined by the house dean or local school/unit policy. Local policies may further restrict certain non-sponsored events and gatherings to Harvard community members only. At no time should occupancy in private dwellings exceed 25 persons, including residents.

Visitors:

Revised language to clarify that official visitors are those who come to campus via invitation to Harvard-sponsored activities or events.

Added visitors whose access will be limited to areas only open to the general public to the list of official visitors who will have short-term or limited access on campus. The intent of this addition is to standardize the expectations for visitors and members of the general public who will have the same or similar presence and access on campus.

Change Contact: Cynthia Parenteau

Activity-Specific Updates:

Performances and Rehearsals:

Clarified that Harvard University performers playing woodwind and brass instruments during rehearsals may use utilize slitted, instrument masks in lieu of a general use face covering if the listed conditions are met (non-slitted masks should be used when not actively playing these instruments).

Visitors:

Expanded the qualifications for visitors with short-term or limited access to campus to include those typically on campus for seven cumulative days or less, personal guests to a private residence or residence hall, visitors whose access will be limited to outdoors, and those who have been issued an HUID for access purposes only (e.g., Harvard Daycare pick-up/drop-offs).

The intent of this change is to provide better guidance for caretakers of Harvard residents or children that live on campus, dogwalkers, family, and other personal visitors that live off campus but may visit or come on site for greater than seven cumulative days. These types of visitors are not required to report vaccination status or enroll in the University’s viral testing program.

Vendors (new section):

Vendors and paid service contractors are not considered official visitors.

The new vendor section clarifies which vendors need to report their vaccination status and enroll in the viral testing program. If vendors are in the viral testing program, they are required to report their vaccination status.

Embedded vendors (RA, Securitas, Custodial staff, etc.) are required to report vaccination status and be enrolled in viral testing program.

Not all POIs are considered embedded vendors.

Not all vendors with an HUID or those considered POIs are required to report their vaccination status or enroll in the testing program. Schools and units will make this determination based on high-risk/low-risk criteria and examples provided within the updated guidance.

Change Contact: Cynthia Parenteau

Activity-Specific Updates:

Classrooms, Instruction, Lecture and Designated Study Spaces: Added language to re-emphasize that school and unit policies regarding unmasking allowances in academic settings that are more restrictive must be followed:

“Schools/units may choose to establish a higher minimum distance, or other restrictions based on local conditions, mode of instruction, and other considerations. Any additional school/unit policies that are more restrictive must be followed.”

Public Health Updates:

Cleaning and Disinfection: Added language to clarify timing expectations for enhanced cleaning following notification of a positive case within a space.

Viral Testing:

Added additional links to testing FAQs, including how to set up a color account, where to pick up and drop off tests, how to swab, and how to interpret test results.

Added an important reminder about dropping off test kits:

“Viral test kits must only be returned to the designated drop boxes by the individual who tested. These may not be passed onto others or collected separately for group drop-offs.”

Change Contact: Cynthia Parenteau

Activity-Specific Updates:

Events and Gatherings: Indoors: Clarified that the cap on total persons for non-sponsored events applies to events and gatherings held in private living spaces or suites within Harvard residence halls or dormitories.

Visitors:

Added guidance outlining when Harvard visitors are required to report COVID-19 diagnosis.

Clarified that visitors that are on campus for less than seven days are only encouraged to receive a COVID-19 test on the day of arrival through a local clinic or pharmacy at their own expense if traveling from out of state.

Public Health Updates:

Face Coverings

Removed the following bullet to be consistent with current physical distancing and face covering guidance for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals:

“In crowded spaces outdoors (such as sporting events, concerts, etc.) where persons may not be protected by vaccination and physical distancing cannot be consistently maintained.”

Clarified that the allowance to remove face coverings in common areas of shared Harvard residence halls and dormitories applies only to shared private living spaces and suites within residence halls and dormitories.

Vaccination: Added additional section that provides guidance for schools/units that voluntarily choose to extend the University’s vaccination requirement to non-Harvard community members including visitors, program participants, non-embedded vendors, and members of the general public.

Change Contact: Marykate Franks

Activity-Specific Updates:

Fitness: Recreational Facilities and Health Clubs: Added best practices for mask usage in recreational facilities with indoor swimming facilities.

Travel:

Included additional language on submitting vaccination status to HUHS.

Added language on the Office of the Vice Provost for International Affairs (OVPIA)’s travel petition process.

Visitors: Removed Crimson Clear requirements for visitors on campus for less than seven days. Visitors that are on campus for less than seven days are now encouraged to receive a COVID-19 test on the day of arrival through a local clinic or pharmacy at their own expense.

Room and Space Use: Eating and Drinking Areas: Identifying appropriate eating and drinking areas is the responsibility of local units and/or building management. Unvaccinated persons should ensure they take steps to plan and protect themselves while on eating and drinking by remaining physically distanced from others.

Room and Space Use: Beverage Consumption in Areas Not Designated for Eating and Drinking removed. Information on eating and drinking outside of appropriate eating and drinking areas (study spaces, corridors, etc.) has been moved to Activity-Specific: Room and Space Use: Eating and Drinking Areas.

Transportation: Transportation vehicle occupancy may return to pre-COVID-19 levels.

Public Health Updates:

Physical Distancing: With limited exceptions, physical distancing is no longer required indoors or outdoors. Unvaccinated persons should continue protect themselves while on campus, by practicing physical distancing when possible, especially when unmasked.

Change Contact: Cynthia Parenteau

Updated Activity-Specific: Transportation: Use of University Vehicles to include guidance and controls for allowing more than one occupant in University vehicles.

Change Contact: Marykate Franks

Updated the narrative to reflect new University guidance.

Removed Local Requirements information from Activity-Specific and Public Health as both Boston and Cambridge align with Massachusetts.

Updated all Massachusetts and CDC information in Activity-Specific and Public Health to reflect the most recent regulatory changes.

Updated Public Health to reflect new University policy concerning cleaning and disinfection, face coverings, physical distancing, vaccination, and personal hygiene.

Updated Activity-Specific: Events and Gatherings: Indoors to reflect new University requirements.

Change Contact: Marykate Franks

Updated the narrative and Public Health to reflect the revised Massachusetts face covering order.

Change Contact: Marykate Franks

Updated Activity-Specific: Events and Gatherings to reflect changes to University requirements.

Added Public Health: Vaccination.

Added Activity-Specific: Room and Space Use: Independent Activity (Non-Instructional Hobbies, Art, Meditation).

Change Contact: Marykate Franks

Updated Activity-Specific and Public Health to reflect changes to Massachusetts and city requirements.