University of Oregon will welcome students back for the fall term on Sept. 27, 2021.
Elizabeth Gabriel / KLCC / AP
COVID-19 measures are in place as staff and students return to in-person classrooms at the University of Oregon for the first time since spring 2020.
In addition to masking, the school in Eugene requires all students and employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before the start of in-person classes. But there will be some unvaccinated people on campus — those who have requested and received exemptions to the vaccination requirement for medical, religious, or philosophical reasons.
Lane County Public Health’s doctor Patrick Luedtke said the county is working closely with the university. Speaking on KLCC’s Friday Show, Luedtke said UO will also “have weekly testing for the unvaccinated. So there’s a lot of levels of protection.” Luedtke added that he thinks “that the university might be one of the safest places to be in the coming months.”
The weekly testing requirement will take effect on Monday, Sept. 27, the first day of fall term classes. The free COVID-19 testing will be conducted on the Eugene campus by the UO Monitoring and Assessment Program. Most students will begin moving in on Thursday Sept. 23.
Meanwhile, Oregon State University says more than 4,600 students will be living on campus this fall. That’s about twice as many as last fall. The university says about 93 percent of the residence hall students have already verified that they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19, as required by the school. Classes start in Corvallis on Wednesday. Students will also be tested for the coronavirus when they arrive on campus.