The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has changed the guidance around the length of isolation and quarantine, particularly for people who test positive but are asymptomatic and for close contacts. The University is awaiting forthcoming guidance from the CDC specifically for higher education institutions and consulting with the Baltimore City Health Department, as well as other medical experts. For the time being, we will continue with the full 10-day isolation for Loyola community members who test positive (beginning with the day your test was taken). Students who test positive or who are identified as close contacts should follow the guidance provided by Student Health Services.

No, this is protected information per federal regulations.

COVID-19 vaccine boosters are required for all students participating in in-person classes or activities and all faculty, staff, and administrators, with the exception of those who have been granted a medical or religious exemption approved by the University. Students should upload proof of the booster vaccine to the Loyola Student Health Portal by Jan. 31, 2022. 

All graduate students participating in in-person classes or activities on the Evergreen campus or at one of Loyola’s graduate centers (Timonium, Columbia), the Belvedere Square location of the Loyola Clinical Centers, or downtown Baltimore locations are required to submit proof of COVID-19 vaccination or be granted a medical or religious exemption. Proof of COVID-19 vaccine boosters are also required for all students.

Yes, all students will track their symptoms each morning. The symptom tracker is located on the Loyola Student Health Portal.

You will be contacted by Loyola’s Contact Tracing team only if you are identified as a close contact. Please consider saving their phone number in your phone so you know if you should pick up with call. Loyola Contact Tracing phone number: 410-618-9550

Information shared with the contact tracer will remain confidential, and a student will not be referred to the conduct process for information shared with the contact tracer. However, the University reserves the right to investigate and adjudicate information and behaviors that are observed or learned outside the contact tracing process. For example, if you speak with a contact tracer and tell them you were with a non-student guest on campus, the contact tracer will not share that information with the Office of Student Conduct. However, if a report is received from a Loyola community member, such as a fellow student, with information about the incident you disclosed to the contact tracer, that behavior reported to the University by the fellow student and investigated by the University will be adjudicated through the student conduct process.

Close contact is defined as someone who was within 6 feet for a total of 15 minutes or more within two days prior to illness onset, regardless of whether the contact was wearing a mask.

If you are vaccinated and have had close contact with a positive case of COVID, contact your site supervisor and University supervisor immediately to report the exposure. Follow externship/practicum site guidance on continuing in-person activities. You should also alert Student Health Services to your exposure by completing the daily symptom tracker and follow their guidance for COVID testing.   

If you have an approved vaccine exemption and have been exposed to COVID, you should notify SHS through the daily symptom checker and then quarantine at home. SHS will follow up with guidance regarding quarantine and testing requirements. You should contact your site supervisor and University supervisor immediately to report the exposure. 

Regardless of your vaccination status, do not report to the site if you have any symptoms of COVID-19 or you have had a positive COVID test and have not been cleared by Student Health Services (SHS) or your primary care physician to return to in-person activities.

All residential students should arrive on campus with a “go bag” packed and ready in case they test positive and need to return home or move to Loyola isolation space. Students should review the checklist of items to pack and a list of items that will be provided in Loyola isolation space.

If you have an approved exemption from being vaccinated, you must participate in mandatory weekly testing. A small percentage of faculty, staff, administrators, and graduate and undergraduate students who have been vaccinated are also in the weekly surveillance testing pool. Students chosen for this testing will be notified by email from covidtesting@loyola.edu. As the semester moves forward, we will adjust this as recommended by our medical experts.

As a part of the first page of the waiver forms that were signed by all who have been approved for a medical or religious exemption, conditions indicated that we will attempt to bill your insurance company directly from the lab handling the testing. In some rare instances, this is not fully covered by insurance. If Loyola is notified by the lab that your insurance company did not approve the claim, we will bill you our out-of-pocket costs for the test which is $65/test this upcoming semester.

Testing for vaccinated individuals included in surveillance testing will be covered by Loyola IF your insurance company denies the claim. All symptomatic testing for COVID will be done through Student Health Services and should be covered through insurance baring any deductibles you may be responsible for each year.

It is expected that any students involved in in-person learning will report any positive COVID-19 test result (including from home tests) to Student Health and Education Services within two hours. To report your positive test result, contact Student Health Services at 410-617-5055 during business hours and speak with one of the clinical staff there. If you receive your positive result after hours or on the weekend, we ask that you email Student Health Services at covidtesting@loyola.edu with the subject line “POSITIVE TEST” and complete your symptom tracker, and someone will reach out to you as soon as possible. If this were to occur overnight, please mask and isolate to the best of your ability and someone will be in touch with you in the morning.

If you are in quarantine or isolation, you should communicate with your professors about how to best keep up with your coursework. You can expect professors to keep their Moodle sites, including assignments and required course materials, up to date; to respond to email queries; and to arrange to hold office hours virtually, as appropriate and feasible. If a significant number of students in a class are in quarantine and isolation, faculty may move the class online, with the approval of their academic dean.

Internship coordinators and/or program directors for both undergraduate and graduate programs have reviewed the measures being taken to protect the health and safety of our students at practicum and internship sites. However, given the uncertainly related to the delta variant of the virus, all students completing any in-person field experience, practicum, or internships will be asked to sign a waiver acknowledging that they are voluntarily choosing to participate in such activities and that they assume the risks of participation and release Loyola University Maryland from liability. In addition, some sites may require proof of vaccination.