The University has further lifted COVID-19 restrictions following a continued drop in positive cases among students over the past ten days, according to a Wednesday email from Russell Carey ’91 MA’06, executive vice president for planning and policy.
The University has eliminated the five-person limit for undergraduate social gatherings and has removed guidance cautioning against small-group hopping. Students should still observe “basic and prudent public health measures,” including “wearing masks indoors, keeping contacts to a minimum and avoiding crowded indoor gatherings without masks,” Carey wrote.
Mask-wearing at outdoor athletic events and campus admission tours will no longer be required. Some outdoor activities will still require mask-wearing by vaccinated individuals, Carey wrote, especially those including individuals from outside the Brown community. Event sponsors will notify attendees if this additional measure is implemented.
The University initially implemented these restrictions were initially put in place after the asymptomatic testing program reported 82 positive cases in the week of Sept. 13, prompting the University to also increase testing frequency and temporarily close indoor dining. The University has since reopened indoor dining as a result of a steady decline in positive cases, though the twice-weekly testing frequency required of vaccinated students remains in place.
The past several days have seen a decline in cases, with the asymptomatic testing program reporting 13 positive tests over the past week as of Wednesday, according to the Healthy Brown COVID-19 Dashboard.
The decision to lift restrictions “reflects the care and diligence that all members of the community, and especially undergraduate students, have demonstrated in responding to the increases in positive tests we had seen in the first few weeks of the semester,” Carey wrote.
“Thank you to all of those whose close adherence to the protocols helped our community return to this activity level,” Carey concluded in the email.
