(BIVN) – New COVID-19 Guidelines for the University of Hawaiʻi’s 10-campus system will go into effect at the end of next week.

On March 26, 2022, the university puts into place recommendations “reflect the latest updates of local government COVID-19 restrictions and the high vaccination rates among UH students, faculty and staff,” UH officials say.

The UH COVID-19 Guidelines were informed by the UH COVID-19 Health and Wellbeing Working Group, a team of UH medical and public health experts, and UH leadership. The latest guidelines are subject to change depending on the status of the pandemic.

The following UH COVID-19 Guidelines are still required, at a minimum, for the remainder of the spring 2022 semester:

• Face masks must be worn indoors in classrooms, shared laboratories, other instructional spaces and tightly confined educational spaces (such as advising offices), as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Hawaiʻi Department of Health, given the increased density of people over long periods of time in these settings, and requirements for in-person attendance.
• Face masks must be worn by anyone who is positive or has symptoms of COVID-19, or who has been exposed to someone with the virus, for the duration of the isolation or quarantine period.
• Students and employees with a medical or religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccination requirement must continue to submit proof of a negative COVID-19 test regularly to the LumiSight UH app.

As of March 26, the daily COVID-19 health screening via the Lumisight UH health app will no longer required, and visitors will no longer be required to provide proof of vaccination or negative test results to access campus events.

Face masks rules will be relaxed, however they will still be required for certain indoor settings (as identified above, such as in classrooms) for the remainder of the spring 2022 semester. Officials say face masks “may be encouraged, but are not required” in the following situations:

• Common areas (hallways, stairwells, lobbies, bathrooms, etc), offices, eateries, libraries, bookstores, etc.
• Indoor events such as commencement, athletic and performing arts events, campus tours and field trips. (While not required, event organizers may request continued masking if the number of attendees is close to the maximum capacity of the venue or based on anticipated high numbers of higher-risk persons attending.)
• Instructors while teaching, provided they maintain 6 feet distance from others.
• Outdoors, including outdoor campus events.

From the University of Hawaiʻi:

The UH COVID-19 Health and Wellbeing Working Group and UH leadership continue to strongly encourage everyone who is not up-to-date with a COVID-19 booster to receive their free vaccination as soon as they are eligible. Please respect an individual’s personal choice to wear a face mask outdoors and indoors where face masks are no longer required. Given the availability of free testing and home tests, we would strongly encourage people traveling out of State to test prior to returning to campus.

As UH President David Lassner stated in his March 3 message, Hawaiʻi is entering a new stage of the pandemic, coexisting with COVID-19. The combination of vaccinations, boosters and exposure to the virus has built up immunity locally and nationally, and COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths are dropping. This change has led to a reduction in the need for government restrictions, including at UH, but through the rest of the semester, given the uniqueness of our learning environs and our state’s hospital capacity, we will continue essential precautionary measures as identified above.