MIT COVID-19 positivity rate remains at 0.1%, masks still mandated
MIT Medical Director Cecilia Stuopis ’90 wrote to the MIT community on Wednesday with an update on COVID-19 cases on campus.
In the email, Stuopis outlined the infection rates, underscored the continuing mandatory masking policies, and highlighted a possible uptick in cases over the Thanksgiving-Christmas travel season.
Stuopis wrote that the positivity rate of infection has “remained around 0.1 percent, consistently lower than surrounding areas.” She made special mention of the “just 27 cases” among more than 4,500 undergraduate students (a 0.06% positivity rate).
Stuopis cautioned that though “the vast majority of positive cases we do see are coming from off-campus interactions,” MIT “remains subject to city, state, and federal policies,” and “Cambridge has a required masking ordinance that will remain in place until the city sees two consecutive weeks of moderate or low COVID-19 transmission.” MIT will thus continue with mandatory masking, Stuopis wrote.
She also delivered some guidelines for holiday season COVID-19 precautions, encouraging students to avoid crowds when possible, consider double masking when traveling, and eating outdoors whenever possible.
Finally, Stuopis wrote that MIT Medical will not provide booster vaccines to their students, faculty, or staff, and pointed to MIT recommendations for deciding whether and how to receive a booster shot.