U of I updates COVID-19 testing guidelines

URBANA, Ill. (WAND) - The University of Illinois is changing COVID-19 testing requirements for unvaccinated students and employees.

Students and staff who don't have full COVID-19 vaccinations have to test once per week instead of every other day, per The News-Gazette. The change will follow an August executive order from Gov. JB Pritzker, which requires weekly testing for unvaccinated higher education personnel and students.

The school is keeping its "outbreak testing" protocol active, which requires residents of buildings with a higher COVID-19 prevalence than the state average to test every other day until they are notified by the university.

Back in the 2020-21 academic year, all undergraduates had to test twice each week with saliva-based tests. Graduate students, faculty and staff went through once-a-week testing. Guidelines have shifted since the fall of 2021, with fully vaccinated students not having to regularly test. Unvaccinated students who gained exemptions from vaccines had to test every other day to get into campus buildings.

The U of I's indoor mask requirement is gone. This followed Gov. JB Pritzker's removal of the state's mask mandate. People must still have masks on at university classrooms, federal transportation areas (i.e. Willard Airport, MTD buses), some campus locations, healthcare facilities (i.e. the McKinley Health Center), and COVID-19 testing sites.

To maintain building access, all undergraduate students returning from spring break have to test negative for COVID-19 by Friday, March 25, to have building access.