Notre Dame to keep vaccine requirement, optional masking for the start of the school year

SOUTH BEND — Classes begin again Aug. 23 at Notre Dame, and the university is planning to handle COVID-19 much as it did at the end of last school year.

In a letter to students and faculty earlier this month, university officials said their protocols will remain unchanged from those announced last spring.

Notre Dame requires all students, faculty and staff — excluding those with a religious or medical exemption — to be fully vaccinated and boosted for COVID-19.

The university will offer testing by appointment to students showing coronavirus symptoms through its University Health Services. Symptomatic testing is available to faculty and staff by appointment at the Notre Dame Wellness Center.

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Notre Dame will not offer asymptomatic testing on campus, but encourages its staff and students to seek out home test kits, which are available through local pharmacies, health departments, health care providers and the federal government.

Masking will remain optional to students, staff and visitors on campus, except for at University Health Services and the Notre Dame Wellness Center. Faculty and instructors may also request mandatory masking in classrooms, offices, labs or studios.

University officials say those who test positive for COVID-19 should isolate at home or in their assigned dorm room for at least five days. Students living on campus will be required to wear a mask during this time if living with a roommate or leaving their room for a Grab and Go meal or to use the restroom.

More information about the university's COVID-19 policies is available online at covid.nd.edu.

Email South Bend Tribune education reporter Carley Lanich at clanich@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @carleylanich.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: COVID-19 policies unchanged as Notre Dame students return to class