Each employee is responsible for monitoring their health for any of the following symptoms and should not report to work if any are present: fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea.
Face masks, testing and contact tracing
Face masks
Regardless of vaccination status, all students, employees, and members of the public must wear masks indoors.
Employees (including student workers and graduate assistants) who have been granted a medical or religious exemption are required to wear masks indoors AND outdoors.
COVID-19 testing
Free walk-in COVID-19 testing is available for students, faculty and staff at the Student Health Center via a partnership with Northshore Clinical Labs. Hours are Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
No appointment necessary.
Contact tracing
Contact tracing for positive COVID-19 cases will continue, and individuals who have been diagnosed are encouraged to complete our COVID-19 self-reporting form. Daily sign-in sheets for the purpose of contact tracing are no longer required.
The following must be followed in the event of COVID-19 symptoms, exposure or a positive test
Employees are allowed to use up to 4 hours of Administrative Leave with Pay for vaccinations and side effects. The duration of Administrative Leave with Pay is capped at four hours per vaccination, including boosters. If the employee is not eligible for paid time off they may remain in a paid status for up to 4 hours per vaccination and side effects.
Employees are allowed to use Administrative Leave with Pay while they await their COVID-19 test results and for up to 5 days to self-isolate or quarantine. Employees are responsible for obtaining supporting test results or documentation from a treating medical provider and providing it to their department. If the employee has taken an at-home COVID-19 test an image of the result will be sufficient for documentation purposes.
Remote work may be available for employees that test positive for COVID-19 or are required to quarantine or self-isolate due to COVID-19 exposure. Authorization of temporary remote work is at the discretion of the department.
If you have a positive test, you are encouraged to fill out a COVID-19 reporting form to assist with contact tracing.
After self-isolating for at least five days:
- If you are symptomatic, continue to have a fever, and/or your symptoms have not improved after five days of isolation, you should wait to end your isolation until the following criteria are met:
- At least 24 hours have passed with no fever and without the use of fever-reducing medicine; AND
- Other symptoms are improving (loss of taste and smell might last for weeks or months after recovery but should not delay ending isolation).
- If you are still asymptomatic or if your symptoms are resolving, you can discontinue isolation.
- Before discontinuing isolation, it is strongly recommended that you obtain a COVID-19 Antigen Test (Rapid Test) after day five; AND
- You should continue to wear a mask around others for five additional days (ten days in total).
Calculating your isolation period:
- If you are symptomatic, your first day of symptoms is considered Day Zero. Day One is the first full day after your symptoms develop; alternatively
- If you are asymptomatic and did not develop symptoms, Day Zero is the day of your positive viral test (based on the date you were tested), and Day One is the first full day after the specimen was collected for your positive test.
If you have a positive test, you are encouraged to fill out a COVID-19 reporting form to assist with contact tracing.
You are not required to quarantine if you:
- Have been boosted; OR
- Completed the primary series of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine within the last six months; OR
- Completed the primary series of J&J vaccines within the last two months.
If you meet the above criteria, you are advised to:
- Wear a mask around others for ten days.
- Test on day five.
- For the ten days following your last contact with someone with COVID-19, watch for symptoms including fever, cough, shortness of breath, and other COVID-19 symptoms.
- If you develop symptoms, get tested immediately and self-isolate until after you receive your results. If positive, your new Day Zero is the date you developed symptoms.
You are required to quarantine if you:
- Completed the primary series of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine over 6 months ago and are not boosted; OR
- Completed the primary series of J&J over two months ago and are not boosted; OR
- Are unvaccinated.
Quarantine guidance:
- The date of your exposure is considered Day Zero. Quarantine for at least five days after your last contact with a person who has had COVID-19.
- For ten days after your last contact with someone with COVID-19, watch for symptoms including fever, cough, shortness of breath, and other COVID-19 symptoms and wear a mask.
- If you develop symptoms, get tested immediately and self-isolate until after you receive your results. If positive, stay home.
COVID-19 vaccination verification for new hires
The Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents approved an emergency amendment to the NSHE Code that sets forth policies and procedures enacting a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine requirement for all NSHE employees, effective Dec. 1. Current employees were required to upload their proof of vaccination or be approved for a waiver by January 1, 2022.
Get vaccinated or get a booster
Free COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters are available through the Student Health Center. Call (775) 784-6598 to schedule your appointment. Other providers include the following:
Submit proof of vaccination
New employees who have accepted an offer letter must email proof of vaccination to employeevax@unr.edu. Student applicants who have met Admissions and Records' vaccination or waiver requirements will be recognized as eligible for employment.
Request medical or religious waiver
New hires may apply for a medical waiver or religious waiver. Approval must be granted prior to the first day of employment. New hires may appeal up to one time if denied. Employees who are granted waivers will be subject to indoor and outdoor face-covering requirements, weekly COVID-19 testing, and exclusion from the workplace upon the recommendation of health care professionals due to an outbreak or cluster of the COVID-19 virus.
- Complete medical waiver [Docusign] or Download medical waiver request [Printable PDF]
- Complete religious waiver [Docusign] or Download religious waiver request [Printable PDF]
Submit completed, signed request to employeevax@unr.edu. Digital signatures accepted.
Information for instructors
Masks in the classroom
A video, accessible to instructional faculty, showing how to deal with students who inadvertently or intentionally fail to wear face coverings in class is available to watch in WebCampus.
COVID-19 FAQ for instructors
The required communications sequence when a student tests positive in a classroom or a lab setting is as follows:
- When a student receives a positive COVID-19 result from the Student Health Center, or self-reports their positive case, the Student Health Center will initiate a contract tracing process, which will help gather additional information about other possible close contacts on campus that may require quarantine.
- The person testing positive is to isolate immediately, per CDC recommendations.
- The Provost Office will then contact the student’s instructors via email informing them of the positive test result.
- For in-person courses, instructors should notify students that there has been a positive case reported in class without revealing the identity of the individual who has tested positive.
- In most classroom situations without seating charts, it is difficult to determine whether someone has been a close contact (less than six feet for more than 15 minutes) with a positive case. However, requiring masks and recommending COVID-19 testing are helpful mitigation strategies.
- If there has been notification of a positive case in a classroom, any unvaccinated students in the classroom should be advised to get a COVID-19 test, even if asymptomatic. These students should not attend class if they have symptoms. They may continue to attend class if they are not having symptoms until they receive their test results. Any student testing positive must isolate for a minimum of 5 days even if they are not having any symptoms.
- If there has been notification of a positive case in a classroom, any vaccinated students in the classroom who are having symptoms should not attend class and should get a COVID-19 test. Vaccinated students who are not having symptoms may continue to attend class. Any student testing positive must isolate for a minimum of 5 days even if asymptomatic.
- It is most important to ensure the student who tested positive does not attend class during their isolation period. The isolation period for someone testing positive for COVID-19 is a minimum of 5 days from the start of symptoms or if asymptomatic 5 days from the testing date. If symptoms are resolving after 5 days and the student has not had a fever within the past 24 hours, they may return to class or to work. If symptoms continue, the isolation period should continue for an additional 5 days.
- Having a student test positive or symptom-positive student in a classroom/lab does not mean the class needs to be cancelled or taught remotely. Instructors should not conduct their in-person classes remotely unless they have received a specific public health directive to do so or have been contacted by the Office of the Provost or the University’s chief medical officer Dr. Cheryl Hug-English.
- Instructors must provide students who have tested positive opportunities to make up missed course work, including assignments, quizzes or exams. In courses with mandatory attendance policies, instructors must not penalize students for missing classes due to a positive COVID-19 test. In addition, instructors should not penalize symptom-positive students who miss class because the student is acting out of an abundance of caution while awaiting test results. It is the instructor’s prerogative whether to record classes for or provide synchronous remote access to students who are in isolation due to a positive COVID-19 test or who are awaiting the results of their COVID-19 test.
While we are working to notify faculty about positive COVID-19 cases, please be aware this may not occur in every situation due to circumstances beyond the University’s control. Faculty members are only notified if a student has attended their class while infectious, and the student has either been tested at the Student Health Center or completed a COVID-19 self-reporting form. However, students can test in many other community locations or with a home test, in which case the Student Health Center may not be notified. We acknowledge that there are instances where a student may learn of a positive test result, not report the result to the Student Health Center and go directly to their instructor with the result. Faculty in these instances should advise their student to fill out the self-reporting form so that the University is aware.
Instructors are advised, if a student tests positive in one of their classes, to get a COVID-19 test themselves if they have had close contact (less than six feet for more than 15 minutes) or if they are exhibiting symptoms.
In the event an instructor tests positive for COVID, isolation should begin immediately. Consultation with the chair or dean, should also begin immediately as to what next steps should be in presenting material to your class during the isolation period.
Having a student test positive or symptom-positive student in a classroom/lab does not mean the class needs to be cancelled or taught remotely. Instructors should not conduct their in-person classes remotely unless they have received a specific public health directive to do so or have been contacted by the Office of the Provost or the University’s chief medical officer Dr. Cheryl Hug-English.