An Overview of the Ivy League Covid Policies

Introduction

The emergence of the Omicron variant in December 2021 shifted the decision-making calculus of almost every institution in the country, and Ivy League schools were no exception. Despite an almost-universally vaccinated population, the Ancient Eight were forced to weigh the extent to which they were willing to accept large numbers of COVID-19 cases among students and faculty. These decisions were made against a national backdrop of increased acceptance of COVID-19 as an unavoidable part of life, as vaccines largely began to fail to prevent infection and mental health and a “return to normal” became more heavily weighted priorities. The response, and the willingness to accept high case counts, of each school has varied widely. To save our readership from reading dozens of announcements, guidances, and messages, The Review has compiled a brief school-by-school summary of Omicron policies for each member of the Ivy League.

Harvard

In response to the Omicron spike in late December and early January, Harvard announced that most activities would be remote for the first three weeks of January. However, this announcement does not impact the start of spring semester classes, which are still scheduled to begin in-person on January 24th, albeit with a new booster mandate. Harvard has moved to adopt the new CDC isolation guidelines for people who test positive for COVID-19, allowing asymptomatic individuals and those with “resolving symptoms” to end strict isolation after five full days, to be followed with five days of strict masking. The guidelines for close contact with an infected person have also been updated: individuals who are vaccinated but not boosted must now quarantine for 5 days after exposure.

The changes also included some relaxing of previous policies. The university will no longer use isolation housing, instead requiring students to self-isolate in their dorm rooms. Students who test positive will also be asked to conduct contact tracing themselves, instead of going through Harvard University Health Services. Dean Claudine Gay stated that the policy shift “responds to the lower severity of symtpoms of Omicron infection … and its high transmissibility.”

Yale

On December 22nd, Yale announced that the start of spring semester classes would be delayed by one week, and that the first two weeks of classes would be online. Further changes ensued on January 7th, when Dean of Student Affairs Melanie Boyd announced new restrictions for the spring semester. Upon arrival, Yale students will now be required to follow a “two-phase quarantine,” self-isolating upon arrival until receiving a negative COVID test, and then observing a campus-wide quarantine that bars students from entering New Haven businesses until February 7th. Dining halls will also remain grab-and-go until further notice.

University COVID-19 Coordinator Stephanie Spangler also announced that, until further notice, all in-person gatherings would be prohibited without prior approval from public health officials. Students will be required to test twice weekly, regardless of vaccination status, and cloth masks “are no longer acceptable protection” as of this announcement. All individuals are required to mask indoors, and unvaccinated individuals must also wear masks outdoors in situations where six feet of distance cannot be maintained. Yale health officials also stressed that students are expected to wear masks while on winter break, particularly in the two weeks before arrival on campus, and that bars and restaurants should be avoided.

Princeton

Princeton followed several other universities in delaying undergraduate return to campus by one week to January 14th. All undergraduates must now submit a negative COVID test before attending any in-person activities or accessing most campus facilities, including the library or gym. Students will also be required to receive a booster shot by the end of January, and may not travel outside of Mercer County except in extraordinary circumstances. The administration stated that they will “revisit and, if possible, revise this travel restriction by February 15th.” Any University-sponsored indoor gathering may not include any activity that requires removing masks, which includes serving food. The restrictions on gatherings, which also include capacity limits for any non-registered gatherings, will continue until at least mid-February.

Undergraduate students will continue to be required to test twice a week, and isolation dorms will continue to be used, although a December 27th announcement stated that isolation capacity “can only accommodate a limited number of students at once.” Princeton’s “Expanded Use of Institutional Data,” which includes data on card access to campus facilities, will continue until further notice.

Columbia

Columbia has maintained its originally scheduled arrival date of January 18th. However, a December 22nd announcement moved the first two weeks of all classes to an online format, though students may return to campus during that time. In the same announcement, Columbia officials strongly recommended that students get a PCR test 48 hours prior to arriving on campus, and mandated that they take a test upon arrival, and again five to seven days after arrival. The same announcement also confirmed the University’s previous booster mandate for the end of January, and completely prohibited any indoor in-person gatherings for the first two weeks of January. The university also noted in a separate announcement that cloth masks were no longer acceptable protection.

A second announcement on January 5th updated Columbia’s isolation and quarantine requirements, allowing for a five-day isolation period for asymptomatic COVID patients. Individuals who are vaccinated but not boosted, along with unvaccinated individuals, must now quarantine for five days following close contact. All dining locations were shifted to a grab-and-go format for the first two weeks of undergraduate return. Students were “strongly urged” to avoid indoor social gatherings wherever they were located, and masking in these locations was also “strongly recommended.” 

A third announcement on January 10th further clarified the school’s booster mandate and isolation protocols, and also changed the timeline for grab-and-go dining to one week following undergraduate return, with more information to be shared following that first week. The announcement also stated that “[t]he impact of the virus … is very different under these circumstances than in the early stages of the pandemic … allowing a different balance to be struck between the benefits and negative impacts of isolation.”

Brown

In the face of rising cases associated with the Omicron variant, Brown opted to maintain its original start date of January 26th for undergraduate classes. Brown’s updated guidance for spring 2022 states that “there will not be any significant changes to University operations or activities for the opening weeks of the spring semester.” Despite this, there were several changes to the University’s previous COVID policies. On January 14th, Brown ended its PCR testing program, and announced a plan to make rapid antigen test kits available to all students and staff. The guidance stated that PCR tests “cannot determine who is actively infected and contagious,” and that antigen testing answers “the most important question in the Omicron era: ‘Am I infectious now?’” Students will be required to submit the results of self-administered antigen tests twice a week “until health conditions reflect it is no longer necessary.”

The University’s isolation protocol was also updated to reflect recent CDC guidance: infected students may be released from isolation after five days with a negative antigen test. Students who contract COVID-19 will isolate in their bedrooms if they live in “private bedrooms,” while students with roommates will quarantine in designated isolation dorms or hotel rooms. The guidance also stated that students and staff should not wear cloth face coverings, and that KN95 masks would be provided upon arrival. The announcement closed by stating that “[w]e continue to believe that in-person instruction is safe,” while emphasizing that there may be disruptions due to students or faculty testing positive. Provost Richard Locke asked all instructors to ensure online access to course materials for students who may have to isolate.

Cornell

In a January 6th announcement, Cornell noted that:

[T]he scientific evidence is pointing toward an overall health risk that is lower than previous variants – especially among fully vaccinated and boosted populations such as we have at Cornell. The increased transmissibility of Omicron, however, makes it far more difficult to limit infection. Indeed, there is no way to entirely contain Omicron, just as there is no way to entirely eliminate influenza or other respiratory illnesses. Our focus needs to shift from counting positive cases to minimizing serious health risks.

However, this statement was followed by an announcement that, due to COVID concerns, the first two weeks of the spring semester would be conducted online. President Martha Pollack, Provost Mike Kotlikoff, and VP for Student and Campus Life Ryan Lombardi stated that the move was intended to ensure that students who tested positive before or shortly after arriving to campus, as well as students who had their travel plans disrupted by “now-frequent airline cancellations,” would not fall behind in classes.

Aside from the shift to online classes, Cornell also stated that cloth masks were no longer considered acceptable, and that “[I]n-person student activities will be substantially limited” until February 7th, with students asked to “not engage in informal social gatherings.” Cornell’s page for COVID isolation policies returned a 404 link at the time of publication, though the local Tompkins County Health Department has brought its isolation recommendations in line with the CDC’s.

Penn

One of the first schools to shift to online learning in response to Omicron, Penn announced on December 23rd that “data modeling suggests that we must take steps to prepare for a potential surge of cases in January.” To that end, the University moved undergraduate courses to an online format from January 12th to 24th, while also delaying move-in one week to January 15th. A negative PCR test taken within 48 hours of returning to campus was also mandated.

Further guidance released in January further clarified what student life would look like when students were allowed to return to campus. Perhaps most notably, Penn students, faculty, and staff will now be required to double mask or wear a KN95 mask in all indoor areas. All unvaccinated individuals must remain double-masked at all times, indoors and outdoors. The masking section of the guidance also included a link to a “Masking Violations” page, where members of the Penn community can anonymously report violations of the mask mandate. Beyond changes to the masking requirement, Penn also noted that its use of the daily symptom tracker Penn OpenPass, which is required for access into some campus buildings, will continue. All dining services were also shifted to grab-and-go “pending further evaluation.”

As of the time of writing, Penn has announced that in-person classes will begin on January 24th as scheduled. However, the school’s social restrictions, which prohibit student organizations or individuals from hosting events, will continue until further notice.

Dartmouth

During the beginning of the Omicron surge in December, interim Provost David Kotz and Executive Vice President Rick Mills announced that Dartmouth was “committed to maintaining in-person instruction for as long as it is practicable.” A negative PCR pre-arrival test remained required, as it has been since the fall of 2020, and a second PCR test was required within 48 hours of arrival.

Kotz and Mills’ announcement also outlined plans for campus life in the first few weeks of the winter quarter. In addition to in-person classes and research activity, the gym and library were open to all students, with the exception of first-floor Berry. College-sponsored indoor social gatherings would be limited in size for two weeks, though club meetings were allowed to proceed in-person, and on-campus dining was shifted to a grab-and-go model for at least two weeks. Dartmouth also updated isolation protocol in line with the new CDC guidance, and moved to have positive students isolate in their dorm rooms, instead of in dedicated isolation housing.

Dartmouth’s relatively early start date for winter classes offered the first test of Ivy League COVID policies in the Omicron era. Despite a high number of positive tests on campus, Dartmouth has not shifted to more restrictive policies, and in fact has loosened up on the December guidance. A January 4th email to undergraduates stated that the college “cannot monitor all indoor gatherings, and [does] not intend to police enforcement,” a sharp departure from the previous year, though caution was urged and outdoor gatherings strongly recommended. Most dining spaces on campus were opened on January 10th, ahead of schedule. Since the beginning of 22W, the only other major communications from Dartmouth’s administration has been a request to recommit to masking, a recommendation that all students use freely available KN95 masks, an opening of all remaining indoor dining spaces, and a lifting of the ban on college-sponsored social gatherings. Despite relatively high case rates, in-person classes continue, and campus life has not been significantly disrupted (although first-floor Berry remains closed).

Conclusion

While the Omicron variant upended the 2022 plans for every school in the Ivy League, it also seems to have changed the degree to which different schools place importance on infection prevention. In particular, Dartmouth’s hard-line COVID policies of 2020 and early 2021, which saw almost universally online classes and large numbers of students removed from campus for seemingly minor infractions, have been significantly liberalized. Dartmouth and Brown seem to be the schools most focused on minimizing the disruption caused by Omicron, while, at the other end of the spectrum, Yale, Penn, and Princeton have been the most aggressive in attempting to stop the spread of the variant itself. At the time of publication, only Dartmouth has had an extended period of in-person operations during the Omicron era, with other Ivies either just beginning classes, or shifting to in-person activities after a period of restricted campus life. The Review will continue to follow developments across the conference as each Ivy forges its path through the Omicron era.