Masks 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 spaces. 

Following updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 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

While they are not washable, with proper care your KN95 masks should be reusable for an extended period of time.

You can use your mask as long as breathing remains comfortable. To keep your mask clean between uses, store it in a paper bag. When it becomes soiled, it should be disposed of in the normal trash. You should replace your KN95 when it

• becomes soiled.
• no longer covers the nose and mouth.
• has stretched out or damaged ties or straps.
• cannot stay on the face.
• has holes or tears in the fabric.

Ensuring your mask fits properly initially means you won’t have to adjust it later.

The following are tips on how to put on and take off your KN95 mask.

• Wash your hands.
• Place the mask over your face, with the bottom below your chin and the nosepiece up.
• Place the earbands over your ears.
• Using both hands, mold the metal nose clip to fit snugly against the nose and face, and under the eyes.
• Adjust fit as necessary to reduce air leakage around the mask.
• Handle mask by the ear loops or straps when removing.

The university will follow applicable guidance from the city of Philadelphia and will keep the university members informed as changes occur. At this time, the university intends to continue to require the following.

• All employees and students must be fully vaccinated or have an approved religious or medical exemption.

• Initially, we will be offering asymptomatic testing, but we plan to phase out such testing as the semester progresses. As long as we continue to be over 90% vaccinated as a campus community, students, faculty and staff with approved exemptions will no longer be required to do regular asymptomatic testing, effective immediately. 

• Masks continue to be required in healthcare spaces, clinical spaces and in settings where clinical spaces are incorporated within the learning environment. Masks are optional in all other indoor and outdoor, nonhealthcare spaces.

• Appropriate hand hygiene should continue to be practiced.

• Monitor your own health and stay at home if you are ill.

• Contact Student Health Services (215-204-7500) or Employee Health Services (215-204-2679) if you have been exposed to COVID-19 and follow instructions.

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

View the Campus Recreation hours of operation. 

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. 

Individuals who are age 5 and older can get a booster shot. See the CDC website for more information about booster shots.

If it has been six months or more since your last dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, you are eligible for a booster shot. The university highly recommends booster shots. Appointments are available through either Employee Health Services or Student Health Services and can be scheduled through the patient health portal. We also remain in frequent communication with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health to ensure we have up-to-date information about variant-specific vaccines, should they become available.

Schedule an appointment through Health Services. Learn more about getting vaccinated at Temple.

The Temple community can take the following steps to get fully vaccinated and inform the university that they’ve done so. Individuals ages six months or older are eligible to receive the vaccine. Learn more about vaccines at Temple. 

• Vaccines are widely available throughout the city, the region and the country, and they are safe, effective and free. Everyone is strongly urged to get a vaccine. Students, faculty and staff can call 215-204-7500 to schedule an appointment to receive the vaccine at Student Health Services, 1700 N. Broad St., 4th floor.

• If it has been six months or more since your last dose of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine or two months since you received the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, you are eligible for a booster shot.

• Uploading your vaccine and booster information to Temple’s health portal is a critical step in providing information needed to effectively plan for in-person operations. If you do not upload your vaccine information, you will be considered unvaccinated by the university.

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.

Yes, Temple has a contact-tracing initiative. Our dedicated team at Student and Employee Health Services have tested 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.