Masks are required in classrooms, healthcare facilities labs, shuttles, studios or other locations where in-person classes (including examinations) are taking place. Everyone should continue to consider their own personal risks and decide for themselves whether they want to continue to wear a mask in all or certain situations.

Practicing good hygiene such as frequent hand-washing is a sound health practice. We’ve installed hand sanitizer stations throughout our campuses, along with reminders to avoid touching your face after touching surfaces.

We continue to recommend maintaining a safe distance and uncrowded conditions whenever possible.

Temple strongly urges all those that are eligible receive a booster shot. Boosters are the best way to prevent yourself from becoming infected or becoming seriously ill if you are infected.

If it has been six months or more since your last dose of a COVID vaccine, you are eligible for a booster shot. Boosters will be made available to eligible students, faculty and staff based on availability of the vaccine. Booster shots are also readily available in pharmacies, doctors’ offices and through public health organizations. Health Services will resume offering vaccine and booster clinics beginning the week of Jan. 10, 2022. Learn more about getting vaccinated at Temple.

Temple Student and Employee Health have several testing options. Learn more about testing on campus.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, so too has the university’s response. With rising positivity rates, the emergence of the delta variant and the city of Philadelphia’s Aug. 13, 2021 mandate requiring full vaccination at higher education institutions, the university has implemented this update to its vaccination protocols. All students, faculty and staff must have either received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine (rather than being fully vaccinated) or an approved medical or religious exemption by Oct. 15. 

Temple students, faculty and staff must submit their vaccine information to the health portal by Oct. 15 for their first shot and by Nov. 15 for their second shot in a two-dose series (Pfizer or Moderna). Learn more about the vaccine mandate and how to get vaccinated at Temple.

Beginning with the fall 2022 semester, masks will continue to be required in healthcare spaces, clinical spaces and in settings where clinical spaces are incorporated within the learning environment. Masks are now optional in all other indoor and outdoor, non-healthcare spaces. 

Following updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Temple’s mask guidelines have changed. Cloth masks alone are no longer adequate for protecting yourself and others. The CDC recommends that you wear the most protective mask you can that fits well (completely covers your nose and mouth) and that you will wear consistently. Temple students and employees now have three options for how to mask while on campus. 

• Good: a surgical mask with multiple layers of nonwoven material

• Better: a surgical mask with a cloth mask over it

• Best: a KN95 mask

Masks are not required outdoors unless it is impossible to keep a safe distance, but this guidance is subject to change to meet the safety needs of the university community. 

Yes. Temple enhanced our current campus testing and contact-tracing initiative. Our dedicated team at Student and Employee Health Services has been testing for the virus since the early days of the pandemic, and that work continues today. Read more about symptomatic and asymptomatic testing for students and staff. 

If you are sick—especially with symptoms of cough, difficulty breathing, fever or chills, sore throat, shortness of breath, or loss of taste or smell—contact your healthcare provider, Student Health Services (215-204-7500) or Employee Health Services (215-204-2679). Be sure to tell them your symptoms and inform if you believe you may have been in contact with someone with COVID-19. They can further screen you for COVID-19 and, if needed, help you get tested and recommend the next steps you should take.

It is important to note that a positive test will not affect your standing with the university. Our main goal will always be the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff, so that you can continue to work toward your learning goals.

In Pennsylvania, everyone six months of age and older is eligible to be vaccinated. Learn more about getting the COVID-19 vaccine in Pennsylvania.

The university is committed to carefully monitoring and responding to new information about COVID-19 and its impacts. In developing and preparing for our return scenarios, it is understood that our plans must be flexible and include contingencies for changing conditions over time. We are prepared to deviate from outlined plans in order to take swift actions to keep our community safe.

A coronavirus is a type of virus that can cause a wide range of illnesses, from the common cold to severe pneumonia. The novel coronavirus at the center of the current epidemic has been named SARS-CoV-2, and the illness it causes has been named COVID-19 (abbreviation for coronavirus disease 2019). This is a new strain of coronavirus.

The most common symptoms of COVID-19 include chills, cough, fever, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea. Symptoms and their severity vary widely from person to person, and some people infected with the virus may exhibit no symptoms at all but still be able to spread it. If you are concerned you could have the virus, consult the CDC’s symptom self-checker tool, and read more information from Student Health Services.

COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus, is mainly spread through direct contact with saliva or respiratory droplets, similar to a cold or the flu. According to the CDC, person-to-person spread of this coronavirus is most likely to occur with close contact, or contact within six feet, with an infected person who coughs, sneezes or talks, and those droplets are inhaled by someone else. Some people infected with COVID-19 do not display any symptoms but can still spread the virus.

The novel coronavirus causing the current outbreak of illness has been officially named since the outbreak began. SARS-CoV-2 is the name of the virus itself, while COVID-19, which stands for coronavirus disease 2019, is the name of the illness the virus causes.

You should wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds (about the length of singing the “Happy Birthday” song twice). Consult this CDC page for more specific guidance on proper hand-washing and hand sanitizing techniques.