All students are expected to return to campus by Monday, February 7 to begin attending class in-person when you are not isolating or experiencing an illness. When a student is sick, they should contact their professors to discuss an alternative way to join the class and include medicalservices@fus.edu in their message for health advice and instructions.
Franklin continues to mandate FFP2/KN95/N95 masks in all campus buildings and indoor areas and will reassess this policy after Academic Travel ends. We hope to maintain the health and safety of our community to facilitate the Academic Travel experience that is an important aspect of the Franklin experience.
The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) announced that for the first time since the pandemic began, the requirement to quarantine following contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19 has ended. Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 are still required to isolate and avoid all contact with others for at least 5 days. The individual can come out of isolation if at least 5 days have passed and they did not have any symptoms for the last 48 hours.
In addition, the requirement to work from home where possible was downgraded to a recommendation. Franklin employees are encouraged to discuss their work situation with their supervisor. When possible, they should continue to schedule their in-office time in alternating shifts and take the recommended health and safety precautions if they share an office with others.
Further changes to the current COVID mandates are expected on February 16. We will keep our community updated when new information is available.
Franklin's policy requires us to notify the community of any positive COVID-19 cases among individuals who were on-campus at any time in the five days before their diagnosis. We have nine community members who tested positive last week and are in or finishing with self-isolation. Following protocol, individuals who had close contact without masks were identified during the contact tracing and were instructed to quarantine until the policy changed. Now individuals are asked to get a COVID test, monitor their symptoms, and wear a mask at all times if there was close contact with someone who tests positive.
As always, students should immediately contact medicalservices@fus.edu if they develop flu-like symptoms or have close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19, or if they test positive and begin isolating immediately. Students who test positive must send their negative COVID-19 test result to medicalservices@fus.edu before returning to campus. Staff or faculty who tested positive will need to send a negative test result to VP Tomaso Rizzi before returning to campus.