Mask Mandates and Fall 2021 Covid-19 Update

Dear Faculty and Staff,

Hard to believe, but the 2021-22 academic year is already upon us. Our semester students begin fall instruction Monday, Aug. 23, and our quarter students will follow suit just over four weeks later, on Wednesday, Sept. 22.

Planning for this academic year has been unlike any other, as our long-awaited return to in-person classes will come against the backdrop of the ongoing pandemic and concerns over the Delta variant. The university is continually evaluating safety protocols, and earlier this week I issued a mask requirement for our semester-based operations at the WSU-Spokane and Catalyst facilities. That requirement was further expanded to all of our locations yesterday when Gov. Inslee issued an indoor masking mandate for the entire state effective Aug. 23 and supersedes my earlier requirement. Please review our current masking requirements that apply to all programs and all locations.

Eastern continues to conduct testing and contact tracing, while consulting with local and state public health experts to monitor developments, especially the Delta variant. We are continually monitoring positive case rates on campus and in our community, as well as other important information such as the number of people who have submitted their vaccination records to the university via Med+Proctor. You can always find the latest information at our Covid-19 website: www.ewu.edu/coronavirus.

In the meantime we are excited to get the year underway, and have a wonderful slate of activities planned to welcome new and returning Eagles to campus:

• Our full orientation schedule can be found online, and includes the traditional activities surrounding the start of the year: move-in weekend, Pass Through the Pillars, the State of the University Address and campus BBQ.
• The excitement begins a few weeks earlier, when the Eastern Eagles kick off the season Sept. 2 at UNLV, and then return home to host the Central Washington University Wildcats at Roos Field, Sept. 11.

We have many things to look forward to as we turn the corner into the next academic year. I want to thank everyone who is working tirelessly to plan events, activities, classes, and more for our campus community. And I especially want to thank all of our participants in the EagsVaxUp program. Thus far we have awarded a number of exciting prizes, including one full year of tuition to a lucky student. Please do your part and get vaccinated if you can and remember to upload your documentation to Med+Proctor by Sept. 15.

David May
Interim President