Marco Valera, vice president for administration and COVID-19 coordinator, announced updated COVID-19 policies for the university in an email sent to the Fordham community on Sept. 26. The protocols include mandating the bivalent booster as well as removing the mask mandate on Ram Vans.

In order to be considered fully up-to-date in accordance with both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the university’s guidelines, members of the Fordham community are required to have received their primary vaccination series along with all booster doses for their age group. 

“Being up-to-date on the vaccine is particularly important because it will be more effective against new variants of the virus, helping us to both keep our community safe, and to function with less disruption,” Valera said.  

Members of the university’s faculty are also no longer required to notify their class about students who test positive but “should not identify the individual who tested positive” if they choose to communicate any positive results.

Individuals who are 12 years of age or older are eligible to receive one Pfizer or Moderna bivalent booster, according to the CDC. Valera noted that people aged 12 to 17 can only receive the updated Pfizer booster, as the Moderna booster is only available for individuals over the age of 18.

The university is mandating that all faculty, staff and students be fully up-to-date on their vaccination series by Nov. 1. 

The university has updated vaccines in stock that will be administered for free. Members of the Fordham community can sign up to receive vaccines using the “testing and vaccine resources page” or find vaccines in the greater New York City area. The university requires that individuals be vaccinated as soon as they are eligible, though those who have tested positive for COVID-19 within 90 days have an adjusted deadline for compliance.  

Fordham’s contact tracing and isolation procedures have also changed, according to Valera. Public Safety’s contact tracing team will contact individuals who test positive for COVID-19 to determine the start date of their symptoms and advise them of isolation and masking protocols, which are available on the university’s isolation and quarantine procedures page. Previously, the contact tracing team would determine where the individual had been and who they had been in contact with and inform those who have been in close contact via a contact tracing email.  

Free PCR testing is provided Tuesdays and Thursdays on campus from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Rose Hill campus in the first trailer in parking lot A and in Lowenstein’s South Lounge at the Lincoln Center campus. 

According to Valera, if an individual is in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, regardless of vaccination status, quarantine is not necessarily required. If symptoms present themselves, then an individual should quarantine until a negative test confirms their symptoms are caused by COVID-19.

Members of the university’s faculty are also no longer required to notify their class about students who test positive but “should not identify the individual who tested positive” if they choose to communicate any positive results. 

In accordance with New York State’s rules on masking while on mass transit, the university is no longer requiring individuals to wear masks on Ram Vans. Masking is suggested but not required. 

No update was provided regarding the mandate on masks in University Health Services’ locations, such as offices and testing and vaccination sites, across the campuses.