Preparations to Close Out the Fall Semester

November 18, 2020

We want to commend and thank the Bowie State University faculty, staff and students for your commitment to the safety precautions that help prevent broad spread of coronavirus on our campus, even as the number of positive COVID-19 cases rapidly increases across the state and nation. Your collective and consistent effort to combat the virus at BSU has made all the difference, and we urge you to continue to remain vigilant. 

Reducing Campus Density

As we move into the holiday season and end of the fall semester, our original plan to reduce the number of people on campus after the Thanksgiving break is well underway. Faculty and staff are primarily teleworking, and students will complete their move-out of university residence halls by Wednesday, Nov. 25. We strongly encourage students to take advantage of our free COVID-19 testing before leaving for the holiday break. This will help protect those with whom you will interact during the holiday and assure your continued access to the campus. The last day of testing before the break will be Friday, Nov. 20 so please make appointments quickly through the Wellness Patient Portal.

Campus Access after Thanksgiving Break

After the break, only designated essential staff, and a small number of students in Christa McAuliffe Residential Community will remain on campus through the end of the semester. Even with this reduced number of people on campus, it is critical that we ramp up safety parameters during this season of broad community spread of COVID-19.  Health officials have long warned of the potential for significant increases in spread of the disease with the onset of colder weather, and that development is evident in areas surrounding the university.

Beginning Friday, Nov. 27, access to campus will generally be restricted to only BSU community members who display a green-colored badge indicating compliance with daily screening and COVID-19 testing every 30 days. The on-campus testing schedule has been updated to assure that students, faculty and staff can maintain the green badge through December and into next year. Plans are in place to move to a more aggressive 14-day cycle of retesting to maintain the green badge during the spring semester to enable us to better screen the dual threat of seasonal flu and COVID-19 symptoms.

We continue to monitor the prevailing changes in the status of the virus across the region and guidance from local and state officials to determine if any adjustments to our spring plan may become necessary. The health and safety of members of the BSU community remain our top priority.

Please monitor email and the COVID-19 Updates web section for information and email covid19@bowiestate.edu with questions.