Guidelines and Recommendations Regarding Infectious Illness
In order to protect the health and well-being of the faculty, students, and lecturers who form the RBS community, we ask all those attending in-person RBS courses and programs to adhere to some basic public health precautions recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local health experts at each course location.
Please keep reading for full details.
Infectious Illness/Masking Recommendations; Free N95 Masks Available
At all events and locations, RBS will follow CDC and local health guidelines as a minimum standard. CDC guidelines recommend a two-phased response to any respiratory illness:
Phase 1: Stay home when sick until your fever resolves for 24 hours and your symptoms improve.
- This is when you’re most contagious. Please let RBS staff know when you are staying out of class because of an infection by emailing illness@rarebookschool.org.
- Not all infections result in a fever, so paying attention to the range of other symptoms (cough, muscle aches, etc.) is important. The severity of symptoms is loosely connected to contagiousness.
- What does “symptoms improving” mean? It’s when “a person no longer feels ill; they can do their daily routine just as they did before they were ill, and any remaining symptoms, such as a cough or runny nose, are very mild, or infrequent.”
Phase 2: Use caution for five days after and take additional precautions (e.g., wear a mask, use at-home COVID-19 tests).
- This is important because people remain contagious beyond the “stay-at-home” period.
- If you are feeling well enough to return to class, please let RBS staff know before you return to the classroom and plan to wear a mask for the rest of the course week. RBS staff may tell your classmates that you have been ill so that at-risk students have the opportunity to take additional precautions as they deem necessary.
We ask that you apply these guidelines for any infectious illness you might incur while attending RBS; this might include COVID-19, colds, any strain of flu, strep throat, or measles. Current protocols for measles indicate you should stay home for four days after developing a rash and clear with your doctor to confirm when it is safe to be around people.
Even though masking is not required, we encourage attendees, especially those with chronic health conditions, to consider wearing a mask during indoor activities if you are concerned about possible contagion. For maximum protection, we recommend that you wear a snug-fitting N95 or KN95 disposable mask covering your mouth and nose. If you have forgotten your mask, RBS can provide you with an N95 mask. Look for available masks in the RBS break room, or notify your course session assistant (or instructor, if no RBS staff member is on site) if you need one.
Vaccination
Students and faculty will be traveling to Rare Book School from many locations across the country and around the world; we want to do everything we can to keep our community safe and healthy. Although vaccinations are not required, we recommend attendees stay current with recommended vaccinations and boosters in accordance with recent medical guidelines. Boosters for COVID-19, flu, and other infectious diseases remain the most strategic way to protect yourself from the spread of disease.
Self-Monitoring and Testing; Free Rapid Antigen Tests Available
We recommend all attendees monitor their own health symptoms throughout the week; if you notice any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19 or other respiratory or infectious illnesses, you should not attend any RBS class or other activity while ill, but rather notify illness@rarebookschool.org and stay home in your lodging, masking if you need to interact with others, until you feel better and your symptoms have improved as described in Phase 1. You may obtain a box of two rapid antigen tests gratis from Rare Book School; ask your session assistant or email illness@rarebookschool.org either to pick up a test or, if staffing permits, have one dropped off for you.
Note that although rapid antigen tests have almost no false positive tests (0.5% testing positive when in fact not infected), false-negative rates are quite high (some estimates suggest 30-40% of tests are negative even when the individual is infected).
If you realize you’ve become sick (with COVID-19 or another infectious illness) and potentially exposed others, please contact RBS and see the above two-phase response to help determine when you may safely interact with others again.
Course Requirements Questions, Refunds for Missed Classes
If you miss class time because you have been ill with an infectious illness, please contact RBS staff at illness@rarebookschool.org to inquire about impact on the course requirements or whether you may receive a partial refund for a missed class, which will be managed on a case-by-case basis.