Back to college, without masks for most and much less testing

Josie Albertson-Grove, The New Hampshire Union Leader, Manchester
·3 min read

Aug. 29—As students move into dorms and start classes at colleges around the state this week, campus COVID-19 policies are more relaxed than they have been for the past two school years.

Coronavirus policies are generally similar across different colleges, with only one requiring masks in some indoor spaces, and none conducting regular COVID-19 tests.

No New Hampshire colleges are requiring students to wear masks as the semester begins, but are asking students and employees to wear masks in campus health centers and for at least five days after exposure to someone who has tested positive for COVID, in keeping with newer guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The University of New Hampshire asked students to take a test within three days of move-in, and another test when they arrived in Durham. The university distributed rapid-test kits to each dorm room, and is offering rapid tests at the Whittemore Center through Friday.

UNH students will be required to complete one PCR test during the first two weeks of class but additional tests will be voluntary.

The relaxed regimen is a contrast with guidance from the fall of 2021, when vaccinated students had to get tested every other week and unvaccinated students got tested twice a week.

The Franklin Pierce Law School and the University of New Hampshire Manchester are following similar strategies, requiring one test as students arrive and making additional tests voluntary. Plymouth State University students were required to take a test during move-in weekend, and will have to test again before Sept. 11.

At Dartmouth College, students will only be required to take a rapid test before their first in-person event, gathering or class.

Colby-Sawyer College, Keene State College, New England College, Rivier University and Saint Anselm College are not requiring any testing, only encouraging tests before arrival. Students will be provided with rapid-tests and will be urged to use the tests if they develop fevers, coughs or other COVID-19 symptoms.

Franklin Pierce will require masks in places where lots of students mingle, like the library and indoor sports venues.

Dartmouth, Franklin Pierce, New England College, Saint Anselm College, Southern New Hampshire University require all students to be vaccinated, or to have a college-approved religious or medical exemption.

Colby-Sawyer and Rivier no longer require vaccines. Keene State, Plymouth State, UNH-Manchester and the Franklin Pierce Law School have never had vaccine requirements for students, due to a state law barring vaccine requirements at state universities.

The University of New Hampshire had a vaccine requirement for university employees including student employees in the fall of 2021 because of an executive order requiring federal contractors to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The vaccine mandate for federal contractors was struck down by an appeals court in December 2021 and is still being litigated. But for the fall of 2022, University of New Hampshire students are not required to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Last week, New Hampshire counted just over 1,700 cases of COVID-19 — more positive tests than the state recorded at the beginning of the school year in 2020 and about the same number of known cases as in 2021, but far below the heights of last winter.

State health officials are also keeping an eye on the spread of monkeypox. But as of Aug. 26, only 17 cases had been recorded in New Hampshire, and monkeypox has not prompted a major response form colleges.