Dear Kenyon College community,
This week, the College completed another full round of student COVID-19 testing and has received nearly all (98.3 percent) results: 5 of the 1,142 results were positive, for a positivity rate of 0.44 percent. Based on these results, the quiet period will end today, Friday, April 9, at 4 p.m. and campus will operate at our base level of alert (PDF).
All students in residence will be tested again next week. Those who have been vaccinated or are in the process of being vaccinated should bring their vaccination record (or a photo of it) to the testing center so that we can begin to get a measure of campus immunity.
The following activities may resume at 4 p.m. today unless otherwise noted:
- Peirce servery will reopen starting with breakfast on Saturday, and dine-in seating will be available. Students in quarantine will continue to pick up their meals from Peirce Pub, using a dedicated entrance on the north side of the building to access the lower level.
- Study lounges and other common spaces will reopen.
- Students may gather in small groups (10 people or fewer) indoors or out, and in-person extracurricular activities may resume according to the guidelines for events and gatherings and the Student Organization Handbook.
- Students may continue to have one Kenyon guest in their room.
- Athletics activities may resume in a deliberate, measured way under the supervision of coaches and trainers and informed by NCAA guidance. Specific questions regarding club and varsity sports should be directed to athletics@kenyon.edu.
- Admissions and athletics tours may be conducted by appointment. This ensures that visitors do not explore campus on their own and that they strictly adhere to the College’s public health directives, including wearing masks and refraining from entering academic or residential buildings.
- All other operations, including classes, will continue as scheduled.
- Students may not travel independently outside of Knox County. Travel within the county should be limited to essential activities and taken with care given broader public health conditions.
We are taking this step with the confidence that the Kenyon community will continue to adhere to vital public health practices — wearing a mask, keeping a 6-foot distance, washing hands regularly and avoiding crowded spaces and gatherings. We will continue to monitor the data closely and adjust our alert levels as necessary.