MIT shares summer policies and testing, campus access, and travel protocols
Campus access will ‘remain limited’ for summer, but undergrads may access campus for UROPs and use campus facilities
MIT Covid Update shared upcoming summer policies and protocols, effective June 1, surrounding testing, campus access, and travel, in an April 8 email to the MIT Community.
Campus access will “remain limited” for summer 2021. Faculty, researchers (including graduate students and postdocs), and staff “already authorized to access campus (i.e., in Covid Pass) will retain that access, provided that they comply with testing and attestation protocols.”
Students participating in in-person UROPs will not be eligible for on-campus housing (unless they qualify through SHARP). However, all undergraduates who are living off campus this summer may access campus to participate in an in-person UROP (contingent on PI approval), and may use other campus facilities (such as Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation (DAPER) facilities, MIT libraries, or makerspaces/shops) at the discretion of the space manager.
A process will be announced “soon” for undergraduates wishing to request access to campus.
No K-12 students or programs will be allowed on campus this summer. For undergraduate students, summer residential programs will be “limited to MSRP, MSRP-Bio, InterphaseEDGE, and students approved for SHARP housing.”
DAPER indoor and outdoor facilities will remain open during the summer but “only Covid Pass holders may access those facilities.”
Requirements for mask wearing, social distancing, and routine testing will remain, with “the potential for reduced frequency toward the end of summer,” the email reads. Also, “a quarantine week (Q-Week) will be required for new campus residents or those returning to campus after an extended period away.”
Current visitor policies will remain in place for this summer.
“Until the pandemic is under control worldwide, a modified Covid-19 travel policy will remain in effect in addition to the existing Institute travel policy,” according to the email. All MIT-related travel must be registered.
The new travel policy will go into effect June 1. The MIT community is advised to first refer to the CDC website for updated country COVID-19 risk ratings.
Undergraduate students are “not allowed” to travel to countries with CDC Risk Levels 1 and 2, “except with specially approved programs or an exception process for essential travel.” Traveling to countries with CDC Risk Levels 3 and 4 is not allowed with no exceptions.
Graduate students, staff and faculty members, postdocs are allowed to travel to countries with CDC Risk Levels 1 and 2 but will have to be exempt through an exception process for essential travel to countries with CDC Risk Levels 3 and 4.
After considering CDC risk assessment for their destinations, MIT community members “should then check the Department of State (DOS) website for the overall risk rating of their destination.” If the country is at DOS Level 3 or 4, “undergraduate and graduate students must apply for a high-risk travel waiver.” Staff and faculty members “may travel to DOS Level 3 and 4 countries with no exception or waiver required.”
Local travel (MIT-related/sponsored within six New England states: CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT) is allowed for all. Travelers should “follow Massachusetts guidelines or guidelines of originating location.”
MIT-related/sponsored domestic travel is not allowed for undergraduates “except with specially approved programs or an exception process for essential individual travel,” and is allowed for graduate students, staff, faculty, and postdocs. For personal travel, MIT encourages community members to “use personal judgement and register travel.”
Current and pending travel policies are available in full on MIT Now.