Information about revised COVID-19 testing requirements for graduate students
March 10, 2021 10:05 AM

Dear Colleagues, 

I write to share revisions to the COVID-19 testing requirements for graduate students that are effective immediately and shared in an email with graduate students earlier today. Graduate students who are not coming to campus are no longer required to test, with the exception of graduate students living in University Housing, including Orchard Downs, Ashton Woods and Goodwin-Green.

All graduate students who are coming to campus for any reason must continue to test in accordance with the COVID-19 testing policy. They must test and receive negative results at least every four days to maintain building access. All students and their adult dependents living in University Housing are required to continue testing and should continue to follow guidelines and notifications from University Housing.

Our COVID-19 testing program under the direction of SHIELD Team has been instrumental in keeping our campus and community safe throughout the pandemic. As the pandemic has changed, so has our response to it. While we are able to ease the testing requirement at this time, if circumstances change we may have to reconsider the testing policy. We believe that regular testing is good for our community and we encourage you to take advantage of it and to follow CDC, IPHD and CUPHD recommendations regarding safe practices during the pandemic. 

The university will continue to provide information for graduate students regarding building access status via the SAFER Illinois app. Graduate students should watch for COVID-related updates in Massmail and in GradLINKS. If you or your students have questions about testing, please visit the campus COVID-19 website or contact the COVID Wellness Team at covidwellness@illinois.edu.

Sincerely,

Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko
Dean, Graduate College