February 26, 2021
Dear Student,
If you’ve been keeping up with COVID case numbers at Tulane and New Orleans, you know that the news is encouraging. Over the past seven days, the rate of positive tests for students, faculty and staff through the Tulane testing program has been 0.1% and the New Orleans positivity rate has been 1.4%. Due to your safe choices and behavior, we saw no Mardi Gras spike. Thank you. Because of the low positivity rate, the city has decided to further reduce some COVID-19 restrictions.
- Indoor gatherings may now be as large as 75 people; but note – the wearing of face coverings and 6 ft social distancing must still be strictly enforced. The need to maintain social distance may reduce the capacity possible and/or spaces available.
- Outdoor gatherings may be as large as 150 people, but again, you must wear face coverings and be able to maintain 6 ft between every participant.
- Table sizes at restaurants may be as large as 15 people.
What does this mean?
- You are still required to wear a mask when in public, except for when seated and eating and/or drinking. You should still limit contact, particularly when maskless while eating or drinking, to limit your potential exposure.
- You can make a reservation with up to 14 friends to go to dinner and support our local restaurants.
- You should still avoid venues that are not following the COVID guidelines – bars are limited to 25% indoor capacity, can only provide table service (this means you can’t order at the bar), must stop alcohol service at 11 p.m., and should have obvious social distancing and masking requirements.
- You (or your organization) can register events for fewer that 75 people indoors and 150 outdoors in places and spaces that can safely accommodate these numbers. The registration process in WaveSync has steps for ensuring that the proposed events can be done safely. Click here for event registration details and instructions.
- Private gatherings/parties, like those you would host in your house, cannot be this large. You should not host an event in which the people attending cannot be socially distanced. This means that you should limit indoor private events to no more than 10-15 people and outdoor (backyard) types of events to no more than 25-30. If you have questions about a private event you’d like to host, you can contact the Dean of Students Office at 504-314-2160. Please remember that the city’s noise ordinances still apply.
New university registration procedures and guidelines will be updated and ready for submission on Monday, March 1st. As a reminder, Residence Hall visitation and occupancy guidelines remain in effect. Future modifications will be communicated to on-campus students by Housing and Residence Life. The university student travel protocol is also still in effect. Details of that protocol can be found here.
Thank you for your continued diligence. We are excited about what these new programming opportunities will mean for our campus! Have a great and safe weekend.
Sincerely,
Erica Woodley
