Weekly SHIELD testing for COVID-19 and contract tracing for grades 6-12 will be discontinued, according to a March 23 email from Marsha East, associate director of schools for finance and operations.
As COVID-19 cases have decreased this year and the public health emergency declaration for COVID-19 will expire in May, the University of Chicago is gradually rolling back its guidelines.
Students can still participate in SHIELD testing, but only on demand. Free test kits will be available outside nurses’ offices, and students will need to register their test using the SHIELD online portal. Within 24 hours of registration, the test should be dropped in a designated SHIELD box at the Judd Hall or Earl Shapiro Hall entrances. Test results will be shared in the online SHIELD portal, but results are not reported directly to Lab.
Lab families should still continue to notify nurses when a student has a positive diagnosis. For N-5 students, Lab will notify relevant families, teachers and administrations of a positive case in a N-5 classroom.
The COVID-19 Dashboard will be discontinued at the end of the current school year and will not be used in the 2023-24 school year.