Dear Students,

As we enjoy these last weeks of the Spring semester, I hope you are making the most of this time and immersing yourself in your courses—and making some time for friends, too.

Limit Your Contacts
If you are spending time with friends in person, please make sure you do so safely. We have had a few students test positive for COVID-19 this week who have had more than a dozen close contacts. Some of those students who were close contacts have tested positive and others are in quarantine. If you are following our policies, wearing masks, engaging in social distancing, and not spending time in large groups, one student’s positive test will mean that only a few close contacts need to quarantine. This is critical in helping limit the spread—and it’s the right thing to do for your friends and acquaintances.

Vaccinations
I’ve been delighted to hear that many of our students—and employees—are participating in the vaccination clinics at our neighbor, Notre Dame of Maryland University, this week. Those appointments are now full. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) strongly encourage everyone to get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as they can. If you haven’t been vaccinated, you can get make an appointment through the LifeBridge website. You can find instructions on how to schedule a vaccine appointment—and other information— on our COVID-19 vaccine FAQ page at www.loyola.edu/covidvaccines.

Student Health Services is also receiving questions about where students who received their first dose at home can get their second dose. Your best source for those questions is the provider or site where you received your first dose.

For information on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, you can read this statement from the Maryland Department of Health.

Commencement
We are deep in our Commencement planning for the Class of 2020 and the Class of 2021. I look forward to sharing an update and more details with our students, graduates, and families very soon. We appreciate your patience as we navigate the challenges of this time. We want to share details as much as you want to receive them.

Conclusion
This week our Muslim brothers and sisters started the holy month-long celebration of Ramadan. I hope you will join me in extending warm wishes to all those celebrating Ramadan, a time of prayer and reflection that includes daylong fasting and nightly festivities. One of the themes of Ramadan is charity and being concerned for others’ needs. That sense of empathy and kindness resonates with our Jesuit values, especially at a time when we must compassionately consider how our actions have a significant impact on others.

We have done so well this semester. Please continue to make decisions to keep yourself and our community safe.

Sincerely,

Rev. Brian F. Linnane, S.J.
President