SIU Carbondale will require negative COVID test for all faculty, staff, and students as 2022 begins

WSIU Public Broadcasting | By Jennifer Fuller

Published December 23, 2021 at 4:15 AM CST

SIU

Southern Illinois University Carbondale will require all faculty, staff, and students to get a negative COVID test before returning to campus in January.

In a message to the campus community late Wednesday, Chancellor Austin Lane spelled out the requirements, which will take effect January 3.

All faculty, staff, and students - regardless of vaccination status - will be required to have a negative test within two days of returning to work.

Students living on campus must get a negative test result 72 hours before coming back to Carbondale, or be tested on campus by January 11.

Off-campus students must have a negative on-campus test result by January 11.

The university is partnering with an outside lab to provide free tests at Grinnell Hall on the east side of campus.

The news comes as the University of Illinois is moving its classes online for the first week of the Spring 2022 Semester due to rising COVID rates across the country.

SIU leaders say they're still moving forward with plans for in-person classes, with masking and distancing requirements still in place.

In addition, COVID vaccine booster clinics are planned shortly after the start of the semester. Classes begin January 10.