Jeffrey D. Foster, Interim Vice President for College Life and Dean of Students, updates the residential cohort about the process for exiting the arrival quarantine.
Dear Students of the Residential Cohort,
We are entering our third day of arrival testing and move-in and I want to thank everyone for working diligently to support a healthy and safe process as we return to campus. We continue to work through testing and Arrival Quarantine for students arriving Friday through today, Sunday.
Early Arrival students who returned to campus and tested last Monday, January 25, are beginning to receive notice of a second negative test. Upon receipt of a second negative test result, students are no longer required to remain in Arrival Quarantine. Please carefully review the information below about exiting Arrival Quarantine.
At this time, this information pertains to Early Arrival students (tested Jan. 25) and this information will hopefully help all students know what to expect and better understand the plan for exiting the Arrival Quarantine period.
Exiting Arrival Quarantine
- First, you will receive a second negative test result email from Mobile Health. The email will arrive in your Gettysburg College email in-box from sender “Proofpoint Essentials on Behalf of Mobile Health.” Based on testing date, results are released on a rolling basis, so some students will receive their results before others. Please be sure to remain in Arrival Quarantine until you receive your second set of results.
- Students testing positive will be contacted by Health Services.
- If you have not received an email or have questions about your status, please remain in Arrival Quarantine and contact Health Services during business hours at 717-337-6970.
- If you have an urgent question after-hours, on-call College staff can be reached by contacting DPS at 717-337-6911.
- When you receive your second negative test email, we ask that you continue to wear the bracelet that was provided to you at the Testing Center. If you need a new bracelet, please contact residencelife@gettysburg.edu. The bracelet will continue to be used to let College staff know who is permitted out of Arrival Quarantine and should be worn through Monday, February 8.
- Students who were not included in arrival testing protocol will receive an email from Residence Life with specific instructions for exiting the Arrival Quarantine period.
Students out of Arrival Quarantine now have permission to:
- Gather in small groups in common spaces and gather only with others who are also out of Arrival Quarantine. You must continue to adhere to posted room capacities and observe masking and distancing at all times.
- Be outside in small groups with other students (no more than 8) who are also out of Arrival Quarantine while masked and distanced.
- Resume their in-person work on campus. Most of our Early Arrival students are employed on campus as Residence Life Staff, CUB Staff, Dining Staff, Student Patrol Officers and similar positions on campus.
- Be outside after 8:00pm and wearing the designated bracelet provided. Masking and distancing rules also apply.
- Move about the Gettysburg area, within the five-mile restriction, for food and other purposes.
- Travel off campus outside the Gettysburg area if prior approval has been received from the travel committee – recognizing travel outside of Gettysburg is limited to a few exceptions and must be approved.
Students Visiting Students in their Single Rooms
Our goal is to begin to allow students to have a masked/distanced guest(s) in their rooms as we move into the semester. However, at this early point, and especially in light of the new, more transmissible strain of the virus, we are not permitting students to visit other students in their rooms at this time.
As I stated in an earlier communication, other colleges have encountered significant increases of COVID-19 on campus in the first weeks of the semester. This reinforces the need to continue to maintain our level of vigilance and to enter the semester in a cautious and measured manner. We are monitoring our early test results closely and I encourage you to regularly review the COVID-19 Dashboard.
Thank you for your continued cooperation. I will provide more updates as they become available.
Sincerely,
Dean Foster
Jeffrey D. Foster, D.Ed.
Interim Vice President for College Life and Dean of Students
Gettysburg College