Pursuant to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Executive Directive Two, issued Saturday, January 15, 2022, UMW is modifying some of its employee COVID-19 mitigation protocols:
- National and local data continue to show that vaccines are the single most effective means of reducing the spread of COVID-19 and the severity of its symptoms; however, UMW will now strongly encourage, rather than require, employees to receive COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters, and to share their vaccination status with the University.
- Unvaccinated employees are no longer required to participate in mandatory weekly testing, although they are encouraged to continue doing so.
- COVID-19 remains a threat, and the current surge of the Omicron variant has overwhelmed our hospitals and healthcare systems. It is critical to continue our layered prevention strategies, which have been effective in keeping transmission rates low in the UMW community. These strategies include vaccinations and boosters, wearing face coverings, frequent hand washing/hand sanitization, social distancing, and proper contact tracing protocols to include quarantine and isolation practices. We also continue to ask that all individuals stay home when they are sick.
Our goal is to keep our students, faculty, and staff safe and ensure our doors remain open for in-person instruction. We continue to confer with state regulatory agencies, such as DHRM (Department of Human Resources Management) and the Virginia Department of Health, as they develop additional guidance regarding this new Executive Directive. All other UMW COVID policies will remain in place at this time.
Beth Williams
Executive Director of Human Resources
