Dear Members of the TC Community,

We hope you’re enjoying the Spring semester and looking forward to longer days starting this weekend. We have a few items to share with you about TC’s continued mask requirement and a revision to the booster shot deadline.

Masks Still Required

Until further notice, TC continues to require that all individuals wear surgical or higher-grade masks in indoor spaces. As you may know, New York City has rolled back mask mandates, and Columbia has set a date to make masks optional. We, too, are encouraged by the city’s low number of COVID-19 cases, but we have decided to wait until after spring break (March 13-20) to reassess our mask policy. This will give us time to ensure we can keep campus safe and healthy, especially after potential spring break travel. Thank you for your understanding and compliance. We will provide an update on the policy as soon as possible following spring break.

Similarly, we continue to require that all individuals complete the Daily Health Screening each day they plan to access campus. If you test positive for COVID-19, please also use the screening to alert our Environmental Health and Safety team.

Booster Due May 23

Thank you to everyone who has uploaded their booster shot documentation. To better align with New York State’s revised booster mandate for healthcare workers, we are pushing back the deadline for fulfilling TC’s booster requirement. We encourage you to get your booster as soon as you are eligible, but we will not require you to upload your documentation until May 23. If you do not upload your documentation by May 23, you may be restricted from campus when enforcement of this policy begins on May 31.

COVID-19 Dashboard

View the latest COVID-19 Dashboard update below or on the Preparedness home page.

We hope all of our students and faculty have a restful spring break! If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to email returntocampus@tc.columbia.edu.

Sincerely,

Lisa Seales
Vice President for Administration 
Co-Chair, COVID-19 Working Group
 
Hank Perkowski
Vice President for Finance and Operations 
Co-Chair, COVID-19 Working Group