Auburn announces updates to COVID-19 response

Informed by the latest state and federal guidance, including Auburn’s public health experts, the university is updating its guidance on COVID-19. Auburn remains committed to mitigating the spread of COVID-19 and providing a meaningful and rewarding on-campus experience.  

As the COVID-19 pandemic transitions to an endemic and the omicron surge rapidly declines, the university is adjusting its approach to this next phase. Current COVID-19 data, metrics and trends on campus show a continued reduction in case counts and low levels of community transmission. In response, Auburn is making changes as well. The university will begin treating COVID-19 as it does other contagious illnesses such as the flu so that the university can move toward an environment that treats COVID-19 as a present-day virus, one that rises and falls in number of cases. This means Auburn must also continually monitor its environment and change along with it. The university’s goal is to transition the COVID-19 pandemic into an endemic that is manageable and allows Auburn to regain a sense of normalcy. As these updates, individual actions and personal responsibility to protect yourself and others will continue to be important. Auburn continues to urge all faculty, staff and students to get vaccinated and boosted and seek testing if they experience any COVID-19 symptoms. 

Effective May 6, the end of spring semester, the following updates will be made to Auburn’s COVID-19 response:

• The COVID-19 Resource Center website remains the primary source for information. Answers to most common questions can be found there.

• Calls and emails to the COVID-19 Resource Center will not be monitored in real time. Calls and emails will receive an automated message directing the individual to various resources on campus like testing and vaccinations. 

• Students, faculty and staff continue to be expected to self-report a positive COVID-19 test. For more information on self-reporting, click here. If you test positive or have been exposed to COVID-19, use the employee decision tree or student decision tree for isolation and quarantine guidance.

• As a result of increasingly lower positive COVID-19 cases, testing, self-report and vaccination data will no longer be updated on a weekly basis.

• Faculty notifications and COVID-19 Resource Center-provided student excuses triggered by positive self-reports and exposure self-reports will no longer occur. As with any other illness, it is the responsibility of students who test positive or need to quarantine according to CDC guidance to contact their instructors to discuss missed classes, assignments, tests, etc. For more information, click here. 

• Contact tracing will no longer occur. Students, faculty and staff who test positive for COVID-19 should still self-report their positive test result, but will be responsible for notifying close contacts on their own.

• Quarantine and isolation housing will no longer be offered. Click here for more information regarding what students in on-campus housing should do.

• Emergency COVID-19 Administrative Leave, or ECAL, will not be extended for eligible employees.

Should the need arise, Auburn is prepared to reinstate whatever measures are deemed prudent to address the evolving health conditions. Auburn will continue to be committed to utilizing layered prevention strategies and to adjusting protocols as needed. Thank you for your continued patience and understanding as we all work together to navigate this next phase of the virus in our community thoughtfully and pragmatically.