Wednesday, Mar 4, 2020
Rider University is closely monitoring the rapidly evolving worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and is preparing our campuses accordingly. We will continue to provide email and website updates as more information becomes available. In fact, we encourage you to check out our updated website with student and employee FAQs and additional links at www.rider.edu/coronavirus. It includes information related to prevention, study abroad and other travel and other areas we should all consider as it relates to coronavirus.
We first want to reiterate that there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus among students, faculty and staff on either campus at Rider University. There are also no confirmed cases in the State of New Jersey.
Rider is now suspending all outbound university-sponsored travel to countries with a CDC Level 3 travel health notice for students, faculty and staff until further notice. As of March 4, these countries are China, Iran, Italy and South Korea. Please see the CDC coronavirus travel site, www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/index.html, for information regarding these notices.
In addition and until further notice, we are asking students, faculty and staff who travel for personal reasons to countries with a CDC Level 3 travel health notice to inform in advance of their trip their dean in the case of students and faculty or their supervisor in the case of staff. Please also know that you will not be allowed to return to either campus after traveling to a country with a CDC Level 3 health notice until you have self-isolated for 14 days upon your return to the U.S. and you are symptom-free.
With spring break approaching, students, faculty and staff are strongly encouraged to heed official travel warnings and guidelines of reputable international and federal agencies, including the CDC, the U.S. State Department and the World Health Organization, and follow official recommendations for the prevention and treatment of illness. The CDC travel site, cited above, has a great deal of information to inform your travel decisions and plans.
In the meantime, we will continue Rider’s preparations and planning and will keep you informed of any impacts of coronavirus on our operations. We are working with public health officials and monitoring guidelines and recommendations from public health organizations including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Department of State and New Jersey Department of Health.
The health and safety of each member of our community remain of the utmost importance.