ITHACA, N.Y.—Cornell University announced in a campus-wide email Monday afternoon that, provided the school’s COVID-19 positive test rates and transmission frequency remain low.
Cornell had previously announced that it was planning to hold full in-person classes in the fall, and that it would require students returning to campus at that time to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. With COVID-19 rates staying steadily low on campus for the last several months, even after an in-person graduation ceremony, the school made the fall plan official via a message from Cornell VP of Student Life Ryan Lombardi.
“An in-person fall semester means that students can look forward to an on-campus experience with few public health restrictions,” Lombardi wrote. “In-person clubs and activities will resume, and we anticipate that many of our public spaces, such as dining halls, gyms, recreation facilities and libraries, will resume normal operations.”
The note continues that “almost all classes will be taught fully in person,” and that students will be required to prove their vaccinated status by August 16. As of June 27, Cornell University lists 17,449 of its students and 10,103 of its faculty and staff as vaccinated, meaning 88 percent are already completely vaccinated.
Students are not considered fully vaccinated until two weeks after receiving their final dose of a Cornell-accepted vaccine, which at this time means any vaccine approved by the FDA, the European Medicine Agency and the World Health Organization.