3.  Guidance for IHL’s where not Everyone is Fully Vaccinated. When there is a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated people on an IHL campus, the CDC guidelines state the situation should require decision making involving implementation of layered prevention strategies to protect those not fully vaccinated.  In these cases, the level of community transmission of COVID-19 is a factor, along with vaccination coverage on campus.  Finally, the CDC guidance is that in such situations the IHL should implement a robust, frequent COVID screening testing program with high participation among the unvaccinated campus population as well as monitor local COVID outbreaks or increasing trends.

Reference to the detailed CDC guidance is necessary to ascertain specifically what is being suggested in these general considerations as the guidance provides this type of information for the following categories of actions:   

• Prevention strategies (including mask wearing, social distancing, hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette, and housing and communal spaces);
• Contact tracing in combination with isolation and quarantine; and
• Testing including symptom screening.^xiii

4.  General Considerations for all IHL’s.    The final general guidelines from the CDC are applicable to all IHL’s to help prevent any infectious illness among persons on campus.  They include guidance on cleaning, improving ventilation and maintaining healthy facilities.  The details of this guidance inform IHL’s as to when to clean, when to disinfect, how to use disinfectant safely, how to improve ventilation and how to prevent spread during food service and communal dining.

Additionally, the CDC guidance urges all IHL’s to consider the fact that systemic health and social  inequities involving racial and ethnic minorities place them at increased risk of COVID infection and death and that this increased risk should be an integral part of decision making and inform decisions about in person instruction.   Finally, the guidance goes on to prescribe suggested strategies for IHL’s to have in place for helping faculty and staff with coping and resilience, practices for those with disabilities, for handling gatherings, events and visitors, sports, studying abroad and international students.^xv   

Thanks to the widespread availability of vaccines in the U.S., many IHL’s are preparing for much more normal upcoming fall semesters with most students enjoying on campus instruction.   As of late May, the New York Times had identified some 200 IHL’s that will require all students to be vaccinated in order to attend classes on campus, with certain religious and medical exemptions.  As of June 2021, the Chronicles of Higher Education identified some 510 IHL’s that are requiring at least some students and employees to have the vaccine as a condition for returning to campus in the fall.^xvi  Many more are prepared to do so once the FDA gives full approval (rather than the current emergency approval for use) to the vaccines in order to avoid potential liability for requiring shots that may cause illness to some.^xvii  In late April 2021, the American College Health Association announced that it supports vaccine mandates for in person return of IHL students to college campuses in the fall, with exemptions for medical contraindications.^xviii   However, as of May of this year, IHL’s in some 15 conservative-led states had not imposed a vaccine mandate in order for on campus instruction to resume.^xix 

In a May 2021 Student Voice Project survey, some 69 % of college students stated that they support (strongly or somewhat) COVID-19 vaccine mandates as a condition for a return to in person instruction this fall.  Of those surveyed, 85% had gotten either one vaccination or planned to get one prior to returning to IHL campuses in the fall.^xx