Queen’s urges students to avoid Kingston until end of January

International and residence students encouraged to delay arrival

Image supplied by: Journal File Photo
Students asked to avoid Kingston until Jan. 23.

Queen’s is “strongly urging” students to not return to Kingston until Jan. 23, according to a statement released Wednesday.

As Ontario prepares to enter a province-wide lockdown on Boxing Day, Queen’s has updated its COVID-19 regulations for the winter term.

The start of in-person classes will be delayed, with the exception of a limited number of classes that require in-person teaching as permitted by the government. This includes clinical training that supports health-related programs.

“Students in other programs who were expecting to begin on-campus activity in the winter term will receive further communications from their faculty or program office,” the University said.

Queen’s is also encouraging students who were expecting to move into residence for the winter term to remain in their own communities, unless “absolutely necessary,” according to the statement. 

“These students will receive additional information from Residence Life Services shortly.”

READ MORE: Kingston public health reports 52 active cases associated with off-campus house parties

International students are also strongly encouraged to delay their arrival. 

“These students will receive additional information from the Queen’s University International Centre shortly.”

All athletic and recreation facilities will close for in-person access, and all university-sponsored travel outside of Canada is indefinitely suspended. 

“This affects students, staff, and faculty and includes all future exchange, study abroad, letters of permission, faculty-led programs, internships, research placements, community-engaged learning, practicums, and conferences,” the statement said.

Queen’s is also limiting on-campus access for employees to essential staff and faculty or those who must be on campus to work. 

“All other faculty, staff, senior administration, and student leadership will work remotely except for required ad hoc access,” the statement said. This includes recording a lecture, printing documents, or retrieving files.

“More information on the impact of the province-wide shutdown and its impact on Queen’s will be available in the new year. Units, department, and faculties across the university will be providing updates on their services on their websites and through other communications channels.”

UpdateDec. 23, 2:30 p.m.

In a statement to The Journal, AMS Vice-President Alexandra Samoyloff said the AMS offices will reopen on Jan. 23, 2021 after originally planning to reopen its offices on Jan. 21 to provide staff with a two-week quarantine period. AMS staff will return to work remotely starting Jan. 7.

Samoyloff said the AMS Food Bank will remain open as an essential service.

“Following guidance from the University in the new year, the Printing and Copy Centre will do its best to distribute CoursePack materials to students returning to classes in the Winter Term. Please stay tuned for further information,” Samoyloff wrote.

This story is developing and will be updated with more information. 

Tags

Covid-19, international students, Residences

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