Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. COVID News & Announcements
  3. Spring Break Reminders: Travel, Testing, Online Instruction and the UK Variant

Spring Break Reminders: Travel, Testing, Online Instruction and the UK Variant

March 5, 2021

Dear Campus Community, 

As we approach Spring Break (March 14-21), I want to remind you of important precautions and requirements for a safe and healthy return to campus.  

Travel Guidance

If you are planning to travel, review the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guide for travel to ensure you are in compliance with all national, state, and local guidelines. The CDC provides guidance for before and after you travel, travel recommendations by destination, and more. The university's guidance on business travel continues to be in effect.

Testing Requirements

In addition to requirements for locations you may travel to or from, the following requirements apply to anyone returning to campus after Spring Break: 
 
All students who live in residence halls or in on-campus chapter houses, regardless of travel, must take a PCR-based COVID-19 test within 72 hours prior to arrival and confirm their negative test result before returning to campus. 
 
All students who travel outside of Maryland, Washington, DC, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Delaware must take a PCR-based COVID-19 test within 72 hours prior to arrival and confirm their negative test result before returning to campus. 
 
Students who are not listed above and are due for their bi-weekly test during Spring Break should arrange for a test off campus. All students are also required to be tested as soon as possible after returning to campus, and confirm results online. Please make your post-arrival COVID-19 test appointment based on when you plan to return to campus. 
 
Faculty and Staff: Per Governor Hogan’s order, anyone who returns to Maryland from out-of-state travel must either obtain a negative COVID-19 test result within 72 hours prior to arrival or immediately upon arrival to Maryland, or self-quarantine for 10 days. This guidance applies to all states, except Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, DC. Faculty and staff in this category must confirm their negative test result before physically returning to campus. For faculty and staff who have not traveled out-of-state:
 
  • If you test between March 1 to 5, please test again before March 26
  • If you test between March 8 to 12, please test again before April 2

Online Instruction

For the two weeks immediately following Spring Break - March 22-April 2, 2021 - undergraduate course instruction will be conducted online. During this time, students can leave their residences to get food, exercise and get fresh air outdoors, and get tested, but must significantly limit in-person activities and movements on and around campus, and limit contact with others as much as possible to reduce the potential for spread of infection. Graduate courses during this time may proceed as normal. 

COVID-19 Updates

We have previously communicated regarding the presence of emerging COVID-19 variants in Maryland, and have been operating under the assumption that these new COVID variants are present in our community. We have recently confirmed through a research study on campus that the variant first identified in the UK has been present within our community.
 
Although the presence of the UK variant on campus does not change our current mitigation strategies, please be reminded that the UK variant is known to be 30-50% more contagious and that additional emerging variants may be more virulent and may evade immunity. We must all remain vigilant and continue to practice the 4 Maryland healthy behaviors.
 
For members of our community who have been vaccinated, there is a new feature on the Daily Symptom Monitoring tool to voluntarily input your vaccine type and date. This will help campus health officials have a better understanding of the number of community members vaccinated to-date. It is important to still follow all 4 Maryland behaviors, including getting tested, even after being vaccinated. 
 
Thank you again for your cooperation and commitment to the health, safety and well being of our community. I hope you will have a safe and healthy break. 
 
Sincerely, 
 
Spyridon Marinopoulos, MD, FACP
Director, University Health Center
Chief Medical Officer
 
Additional Languages
Spanish
Creole

About

The University of Maryland, College Park is the state's flagship university and one of the nation's preeminent public research universities. A global leader in research, entrepreneurship and innovation, the university is home to more than 40,700 students, 14,000 faculty and staff, and nearly 400,000 alumni all dedicated to the pursuit of Fearless Ideas. Located just outside Washington, D.C., we discover and share new knowledge every day through our renowned research enterprise and programs in academics, the arts and athletics. And we are committed to social entrepreneurship as the nation’s first “Do Good” campus.

DO GOOD 

Introducing The Nation's First Do Good Campus Transforming Idealism into Impact 

Academics

Spanning 12 schools and colleges, Maryland offers more than 300 degree-granting programs, many of them ranked among the best in the country. Our faculty includes two Nobel laureates, three Pulitzer Prize winners, 58 members of the national academies and scores of Fulbright scholars. And our students, who include the highest achievers in the state and nation, enjoy experiences unique to our location just outside the nation’s capital, including internships, research, and leadership and service opportunities.

Schools and Colleges

Research and Innovation

The University of Maryland is one of the world’s premier research institutions. With our strategic location and scores of partnerships with government and businesses, UMD conducts groundbreaking research on some of the biggest challenges facing our global community, including cybersecurity and terrorism, bioengineering, public health equity, food safety and climate change. We strive to discover new knowledge and put it to work through innovation and entrepreneurship, advancing economic development and transforming lives. 

The newly launched Innovation Gateway will guide you to the resources, programs, partners, and spaces you need to activate and scale your fearless ideas into innovations that launch new ventures, catalyze growth, and advance economic development.

Arts

At the University of Maryland, the arts, the humanities and the sciences intersect to address important societal issues and shed new light on the human experience. Our vibrant campus arts community collaborates with local and national cultural organizations such as the Phillips Collection, Kennedy Center and Folger Shakespeare Library. Student and faculty artists, designers, historians, writers and performers are exploring new media, presenting new perspectives, investigating new techniques and engaging new audiences.

Events

Athletics

Home of the Terrapins, the University of Maryland has one of the nation’s most recognizable and successful athletics programs. More than 550 student-athletes compete each year in 20 intercollegiate sports—12 for women and eight for men. Since 2005 alone, Maryland has won 19 national championships, including NCAA titles in women’s basketball, men’s soccer, men's lacrosse, women’s lacrosse, and field hockey. Since joining the Big Ten Conference in 2014, UMD has won a combined 32 regular season and tournament championships. Fear the Turtle!

Student Life

The Terp experience extends beyond classrooms, labs and studios. It encompasses residence halls and dining halls, clubs and sports, fraternities and sororities, campus events and performances, and countless off-campus destinations. Maryland touts 800-plus student organizations, dozens of prestigious living and learning communities, and countless other ways to get involved. Students here can create a unique identity and grow as individuals, even as they’re part of a close-knit and diverse community. 

On Campus

Keep Learning! Earn up to four credits in just three weeks. Courses offered on campus or anywhere online. Meet your goals with University of Maryland’s Winter Session, January 2-22, 2024. Learn more at winter.umd.edu.

Read More

News

Latest news at Maryland Today

For media releases visit UMD Right Now

Events

Explore events on the Campus Calendar

Terps are bold, smart, curious and proud. We do good, in our communities and out in the world. We are fearless. And we are always looking to expand our ranks. Interested in becoming a University of Maryland student? This is where to start.

 

Undergraduate Admissions

Graduate Admissions

Give to Maryland

Giving back is a fearless Terp tradition, and there are many ways you can not only keep it alive, but also make an instant impact. 

M Circle on the University of Maryland campus

 

Give Now

Maryland Promise Students

Support the Clark Challenge for the Maryland Promise Scholarship and double your impact through the Clark Challenge.

 

Clark Challenge for the Maryland Promise