As COVID-19 infection rates start to decline in Massachusetts, Tufts and other Boston-area universities have relaxed restrictions on academic and social activities. These policy changes follow shifting public health guidelines and growing efforts from institutions to reestablish normalcy on college campuses.
At Tufts, testing frequency was recently decreased from every other day to two times per week for all students. Unlike Harvard University, which now allows students who test positive to quarantine in their own dorm rooms, Tufts continues to isolate COVID-19 positive individuals in The Mods.
Tufts is also running spring semester abroad programs in Madrid, Paris, London and several other cities after relaunching the programs last fall. While classes and excursions remain in person, one change to the Tufts and non-Tufts study abroad programs is the shift in living options. Students now have the choice to live in dorms rather than with host families.
The university reported 19 cases on Friday and 135 over the previous week averaging out to 19.29 positive cases per day. This marks a slight increase in the average number of cases from the previous week. Still, cases remain significantly lower than they were during the peak of the omicron surge, when Tufts reported 245 cases from Jan. 18 to Jan. 24.
Coronavirus case counts across Massachusetts also continue to decline. The Commonwealth reported 2,913 new cases on Thursday, down from 7,066 the week before. Massachusetts reached its highest peak since the start of the pandemic with over 60,000 cases on Jan. 10.
For more details, visit the Daily’s COVID-19 dashboard.
