The following information provides an at-a-glance summary of the health and safety requirements for AU faculty and staff. University faculty and staff are required to familiarize themselves with the University’s Health and Safety Directives related to COVID mitigation and follow them in the course of their work on campus. This summary is for informational purposes only. If there is an inconsistency between this summary and the directives, AU faculty and staff must comply with the directives.
All university faculty and staff are required to wear clean, properly fitted face coverings while on university property, except for the following circumstances where face coverings are not required:
- In fully enclosed private offices while door is closed
- If approved as a medical accommodation through the Office of Human Resources
- When addressing an individual who is deaf or heard of hearing, with that individual’s consent.
- If a position requires operation of equipment and face covering would endanger self or others
- When giving a speech or presentation and no one is within suitable distance. Faculty may choose to teach without a mask if they maintain a suitable distance from students. Faculty should consider room arrangements and comfort level of students when deciding about masking wearing while teaching.
- When actively eating or drinking
- In the university pool
- When outdoors and group size is less than 25
The University provides COVID testing free of charge to faculty and staff. Please visit AU's COVID-19 Testing Procedure page for more information including hours of operation, instructions for scheduling and pre-testing preparation. Testing of faculty and staff is required in certain circumstances described below:
- Surveillance testing is required of unvaccinated employees with approved exemptions to the vaccine requirement two times per week
- Voluntary surveillance testing of vaccinated employees is offered one-time per week and is strongly encouraged for employees with unvaccinated household members, who are immunocompromised or who often remove their mask to conduct classroom lectures, engage in performing arts, etc.
- Vaccinated and unvaccinated employees experiencing symptoms associated with COVID-19 are required to be tested.
- Vaccinated and unvaccinated employees identified as a close contact of someone who tested positive for COVID-19 are required to be tested 3-5 days post-exposure.
- Vaccinated Faculty who choose to teach without a mask are strongly encouraged to get tested weekly.
Faculty and staff are required to perform regular health monitoring and reported symptoms or a COVID diagnosis to the university. Self-reporting helps the university with early detection of potential COVID cases in our community and aids in the overall response. Monitoring and self-reporting are required in these circumstances:
- Unvaccinated employees are required to submit the daily health screening form through the AU Forward Portal prior to arrival on campus each day.
- All employees must self-report COVID symptoms through the AU Forward Portal as soon as feasible
- All employees must self-report a COVID-positive test result through the AU Forward Portal as soon as feasible
Faculty and staff must follow the steps below if they are confirmed to have had close contact with someone diagnosed with COVID on or off campus.
- Unvaccinated faculty and staff are required to quarantine for 10 days following their exposure date, self-report the contact, and take a COVID test 3-5 days following the confirmed contact. A negative test on days 3-5 does not shorten the 10-day quarantine requirement.
- Vaccinated faculty and staff are not required to quarantine, but must take a COVID-19 test 3-5 days following exposure and self-monitor symptoms for 14 days.
- Vaccinated and unvaccinated faculty and staff should self-isolate and get a COVID test if they have symptoms of COVID or receive a positive test result.
- Self-isolation runs for at least 10 days from symptom onset and at least 24 hours must have passed with no fever.