NMU reinstated a mask mandate for in-person classrooms and labs, effective Aug. 1, in response to an uptick in local COVID cases that has elevated Marquette County to the CDC's "high transmission" category. President Kerri Schuiling provided an update of NMU's pandemic protocols heading into the fall semester in an email to the campus community.
The following protocols are subject to change:
· No vaccine or booster requirement, although full vaccination is strongly encouraged.
· No weekly surveillance testing. Symptomatic testing will continue at the Health Center.
· Northern will continue to provide a designated isolation area for students who live on campus and test positive for COVID.
· No mask requirement, except when COVID cases significantly increase on campus and/or Marquette County climbs into the CDC's high transmission category.
· The university will continue to provide free KN95, N95 and KF94 masks throughout the academic year for those who choose to wear them and for any periods when mask requirements are reinstated. Masks can be picked up at the NMU Police Department and the Dean of Students Office.
Schuiling said NMU will also monitor the spread of Monkeypox, a viral disease. There have been no reported cases in the Upper Peninsula, but area public health officials anticipate cases will occur as the virus continues to spread in the U.S.