As students consider making plans for Reading Week, the Provost is reminding students to stay home to protect the community from the spread of COVID-19. 

“As we approach the reading week break, I would like to remind you of the current provincial government stay-at-home order and public health guidance to avoid all unnecessary travel,” Mark Green, provost and vice principal (academic), wrote in an email to students, staff, and faculty on Jan. 29.

While the state of emergency is set to expire in Ontario on Feb. 9, Kingston, Frontenac, and Lennox and Addington (KFL&A) Public Health is still asking individuals to avoid non-essential travel outside of the KFL&A region. 

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“As previously communicated, the university is requesting that all students, staff, and faculty who must travel for essential purposes outside the KFL&A, Hastings and Prince Edward Counties, and Leeds, Grenville, and Lanark region, or who have had visitors from outside the region, to self-isolate for 14 days.”

Student Wellness Services (SWS) is offering voluntary, asymptomatic testing at its COVID-19 satellite assessment centre in Mitchell Hall. Appointments can be pre-booked Monday to Friday by calling SWS. 

“With our winter term well underway, I wanted to reach out and thank you for your ongoing efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 in our community,” Green wrote. 

“The case count in Kingston is currently very low, and your actions to limit your close contacts and avoid unnecessary travel have directly contributed to that.”