coronavirus; covid-19

We will open as planned on January 3, and the spring semester will begin as planned on January 24. We will require all faculty, staff, and students to obtain a booster shot as soon as they are able, and provide proof of the booster to Mason. And we will continue our indoor masking, testing, and Mason COVID Health Check requirements.

Prioritize your health and safety. Here are a few departing reminders to help ensure that we close out this year happy and healthy!

As COVID-19 infections increase in our region, especially the prevalence of the Delta variant, effective immediately, our university again will require all individuals on our campus to wear masks indoors, including classrooms and laboratories, regardless of vaccination status.

As we turn our attention to the Fall Semester, we must all continue to do our part and work together to keep Mason safe. This starts with new policies for COVID-19 vaccination, testing and masking.

Emergent Ventures, which looks for big and unique ideas, has raised $60 million and funded 200 projects. Mason economist and co-founder Tyler Cowen says the program grants are “something you can win that’s not about connections.” Push ideas, he said. “Make the world tell you no.”

We are at an important moment in our fight against COVID, and I want to applaud everyone for their help in making George Mason University the safest campus it can be. Mason has received the go-ahead to begin vaccinating faculty and staff this weekend, and students later this month.

Host and Mason President Dr. Gregory Washington speaks with Mason epidemiologist and public health expert Saskia Popescu about what she has experienced on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

How could the U.S. have improved its response to the COVID-19 pandemic? Mason president Gregory Washington hosts CHHS epidemiologist, Amira Roess, PhD MPH, as she breaks down the many factors impacting the nation's response and recovery.

We are a month into the Spring Semester. The best evidence shows that when people wear masks, practice physical distancing, wash hands regularly and stay home and isolate when they feel sick, we greatly limit the spread and are safer as a community. We also need to complete the Mason COVID Health Check every day.

On Jan. 22, Mason President Gregory Washington spoke with Mason scientists Lance Liotta and Virginia Espina, who head the university’s effort to push the boundaries of technologies that are keeping its three university campuses safe from COVID-19. That includes a rapid-result saliva test, and development of an antibody test that can track a body’s response to the virus and vaccine.