April 15, 2022: Important update on COVID-19 directives

What you need to know:

MSU will continue its COVID‑19 vaccine and booster mandate for the 2022-2023 academic year. All students, faculty and staff must either be fully vaccinated and have received a booster shot OR have received an approved exemption.
Effective May 16 with the beginning of the 2022 summer sessions, MSU is lifting its face covering directive, and masks will no longer be required during classes and academic labs and in most research labs, subject to state/federal guidelines.

Dear Spartans:

As we conclude the spring semester, it is clear our COVID‑19 mitigation efforts were successful in allowing MSU to continue most in-person classes and activities safely. I want to thank the members of our community for their efforts: Your diligence and sacrifice the past year, and since the pandemic began in winter 2020, are greatly appreciated.

Now, I want to provide an update on where things stand now for MSU’s COVID‑19 directives as we look to summer sessions and the following 2022-2023 academic year. As always, we will adapt and respond as and if the situation calls for it.

MSU will continue its vaccine and booster mandate for the summer semesters and the fall 2022/spring 2023 academic year. The high vaccination rate among our students, faculty and staff (94% vaccination rate; 86% boosted rate) has been an essential component in our success, creating a safer community for our students, faculty and staff to live, work and learn. All students, faculty, and staff must either receive a vaccine and one booster or have applied for and received an exemption.
Beginning with the summer semester on May 16, MSU is lifting its face covering directive, and masks no longer will be required during classes and in academic and research labs. There still may be unique situations where masks may be required, such as in campus health care facilities or due to state/federal regulations or contract requirements.
Both the Early Detection Program and PCR testing provided at the MSU Clinical Center will end May 13. Those with medical or religious exemptions no longer will be required to routinely test. We continue to see a sustained drop in COVID‑19 cases on campus, and with the wide availability of PCR, antigen and home testing in the community, the EDP and Clinical Center testing that were crucial to our success earlier in the pandemic can safely be discontinued now.

As stated above, faculty, staff and students are required to be vaccinated and boosted, or they must obtain an exemption. Regardless, they must then submit their information via MSU’s vaccine verification form. Employees who fail to submit their information once eligible for a booster will be referred to the appropriate disciplinary process; students who fail to submit their vaccine information will be prevented from enrolling in summer 2022 and fall 2022 classes. Visit the Together We Will website to find a vaccine provider.

For more information on how these announcements may impact you, please see the FAQs at Together We Will.

Even as much of society returns to a more normal environment, we must remember the significant impact that COVID‑19 has had, and is still having, on many members of our community. Now, more than ever, is a time for civility, empathy and respect.

Many in our community will continue to take preventive measures, such as masking, to protect themselves and their loved ones. Members of the MSU community need to respect others’ personal health decisions, which should not be the basis for assumptions about those individuals’ personal views or vaccination status.

As we have since early 2020, we will continue to monitor and respond to the pandemic as necessary. I thank you again for your commitment to our collective health and success.

Sincerely,

Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D. (he/him)
President