Florida Tech SafeCOVID-19 News and Notices

Florida Tech recommendations are based upon the recommendations provided by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Quarantine is defined as someone who has been in close-contact with an individual who has tested positive for COVID-19. We recommend testing for individuals showing symptoms as soon as possible.

You are not required to quarantine if you are fully vaccinated (6 months within last Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, 2 months with J&J vaccine, or if you have been boosted) unless you are showing symptoms.

Florida Tech is obligated to observe privacy and confidentiality concerning the health of our students. Should you have questions related to our policies and procedures, you may contact the Dean of Students.

Florida Tech requires all faculty, staff, students and visitors wear an appropriate face covering while indoors. Face coverings are not required outdoors regardless of vaccination status.

Florida Tech will provide face coverings to any student, faculty, staff, or visitor who required one. Please visit the Student Life office for your free face covering.

If you’re at home and start feeling sick, or if you answer “yes” to any of the questions on the COVID-19 Campus Clear App before coming to campus, stay home. Notify the COVID-19 Case Manager and contact the Holzer Health Center or a local medical provider for guidance on medical evaluation.

If you start to feel sick while on campus, contact the Holzer Health Center or local medical provider for guidance on medical evaluation.

If a student tests positive at the Holzer Health Center, the COVID-19 Case Manager will be notified to arrange the appropriate accommodations. The Holzer Health Center will ensure the student is briefed on their responsibility to isolate themselves. If a student receives a positive test from an outside facility, they should contact the COVID-19 Case Manager for accommodations.

The COVID-19 Case Management Team and the Dean of Students office will help the student arrange appropriate academic accommodations with their instructors and coordinate with Housing and Residence Life to initiate isolation protocols for campus residents.

Additionally, when any student of the Florida Tech community tests positive for or is diagnosed with COVID-19, the Holzer Health Center will follow guidance from the Florida Department of Public Health (FDPH). For students, Holzer Health Center will ensure the student is briefed on their responsibility to isolate themselves.

Rapid testing will be available through the Holzer Health Center for all students meeting testing criteria via appointment.  Students can also visit a primary care physician and/or Florida Department of Health testing facilities.

Holzer Health Center: In-person appointments will be available to students.

We will provide a separate treatment and waiting space for patients having symptoms associated with COVID-19. Appointment schedules will be adjusted to limit the number of people in waiting areas, and all front-facing service areas will have Plexiglas installed to promote social distancing.

Student Counseling Center: 

In an effort to keep the health of our entire campus community a top priority at this time, we are providing support through in-person and teletherapy services.  

Please call the Student Counseling Center at 321-674-8050 to schedule an appointment.

Visit the Student Counseling Center  website for additional information including:

• Crisis resources
• Non-crisis mental health and wellbeing resources

Florida Tech does not carry any COVID-19 vaccines or boosters at this time. 

Students needing vaccines or boosters should visit a location found through the links below. We highly recommend all students, faculty, and staff recieve COVID-19 vaccines and boosters.

https://www.fit.edu/coronavirus/vaccine-policy/  OR https://www.vacinefinder.org 

Questions can be directed to covid19@fit.edu. 

The new CDC guidance says fully vaccinated people can:

• Visit other vaccinated people indoors with masks
• Visit indoors with unvaccinated people from a single household with masks, if the unvaccinated people are at low risk for severe disease. Skip quarantine and testing if exposed to someone who has Covid-19 but are asymptomatic, but should monitor for symptoms for 10-14 days

However, people who are fully vaccinated still need to take precautions in many scenarios. The guidelines say fully vaccinated people must:

• Wear a mask and keep good physical distance around the unvaccinated who are at increased risk for severe Covid-19, or if the unvaccinated person has a household member who is at higher risk
• Wear masks and physically distance when visiting unvaccinated people who are from multiple households.

In addition, fully vaccinated people should continue basic safety precautions, including: wearing a mask that fits well and keeping physical distance in public; avoiding medium- and large-sized crowds; avoiding poorly ventilated public spaces; washing hands frequently; and getting tested for Covid-19 if they feel sick.

Per CDC guidelines...

If You Were Exposed to Someone with COVID-19 (Quarantine)

If you:

Have been boosted
OR
Completed the primary series of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine within the last 6 months
OR
Completed the primary series of J&J vaccine within the last 2 months

• Wear a mask around others for 10 days.
• Test on day 5, if possible.

If you develop symptoms get a test and stay home.

If you:

Completed the primary series of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine over 6 months ago and are not boosted
OR
Completed the primary series of J&J over 2 months ago and are not boosted
OR
Are unvaccinated

• Stay home for 5 days. After that continue to wear a mask around others for 5 additional days.
• If you can’t quarantine you must wear a mask for 10 days.
• Test on day 5 if possible.

If you develop symptoms get a test and stay home.

No. None of the COVID-19 vaccines available in the U.S. contain the live virus that causes COVID-19, so a COVID-19 vaccine cannot make you sick with COVID-19.

After the COVID-19 vaccination, you may experience some side effects, which may feel like the flu and might even affect your ability to do daily activities, but they should go away in a few days.

Yes. It’s important to note that, while these vaccines are highly effective, there is still the chance that if you are exposed to the virus you could contract COVID-19 after having received the vaccination. On a campus of 5000 +/- people, 95% efficacy still translates to 250 individuals being vulnerable to the disease. For these reasons, all Panthers will continue to follow the Florida Tech Safe Plan.

Yes, fully vaccinated individuals can, but are not required to, upload an image of their vaccine verification card to the Holzer Health Center via https://www.fit.edu/health/immunization-requirements/. This will give students access to an electronic record of any vaccine records they wish to upload.

Yes, you should be vaccinated regardless of whether you already had COVID-19. Even if you have already recovered from COVID-19, it is possible that you could be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 again. Learn more about why getting vaccinated is a safer way to build protection than getting infected.

Talk to your doctor if you have more questions about getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

The university will continue to require isolation and quarantine protocols to be followed by all students. Florida Tech reserves the right to ask any positive students to isolate at home or off-campus at their own expense. 

If you do not adhere to the isolation protocols and procedures, you may be referred to the Dean of Students and/or removed from campus. Students will be required to follow quarantine protocols if identified as a close contact unless fully vaccinated.

• Students in on-campus housing will quarantine or self-isolate in their assigned residence hall. A dedicated staff member will serve as liaison to student in quarantine or isolation and will relay information regarding classes, dining options, etc.
• Students who do not live on campus housing will be required to self-isolate or quarantine in their off-campus housing location. The University will not provide housing or dining for students living off-campus.

The plan for fall is to resume normal dining operations for students, faculty, staff, and guests of the university. A to-go option will remain in place.

Florida Tech will resume a full schedule of in-person instruction in the spring. There will not be a remote option for courses scheduled to meet in person except for those who receive a special exemption from their College Dean or the Dean of Students due to international covid-19 related travel restrictions. Courses will continue to be recorded and made available throughout the semester and will be deleted once the course is completed.

Yes. The first day of the spring term is January 10, 2022. The academic calendar will reflect traditional semester holidays and breaks.

Given the uncertainty of COVID-19, we have prepared to move seamlessly from one modality of instruction and operations to another as public health guidance and conditions dictate.

Yes! Student organizations will be able to host events in the spring after receiving approval from the Office of Student Life. Students are encouraged to check out the COVID-19 Event Planning Resources page in Engage.

Intramural, club sports, and recreation will return to normal in the spring. Please visit https://www.fit.edu/clemente-center/intramural-sports/. 

We will reinstate traditional housing accommodations, and our two-year live-on housing requirement will remain in place. All full-time students are required to live on campus for two years.  For Fall 2021 and forward, this includes students who entered Florida Tech during the following semesters: Spring 2019, Fall 2020, Spring 2021 and Fall 2021.

Select residence halls will accommodate limited single occupancy at a premium cost. For additional details, visit https://www.fit.edu/housing/about-campus-housing/.

No. Upon notification of a positive case or close contact within a residence hall, the COVID-19-positive resident will isolate or quarantine in-place following all isolation and quarantine protocols provided by the university's COVID-19 Case Management Team. Students always have the option of returning home to isolate/quarantine or isolating/quarantining off-campus at their own expense.

For the safety of our campus community, public access to the campus will remain restricted, and Florida Tech will continue to require university guests to check in at the Welcome Center or at the Office of Enrollment Management (for campus tours). For safety and security, visitors will be required to display their university-provided visitor pass. Faculty and staff will continue to display will continue to display their campus-issued ID at all times when on campus. Students are also highly encouraged to display their campus-issued ID when moving around campus.

All international students are expected to follow CDC guidelines before they return to campus. We strongly recommend all students get vaccinated prior to returning to campus. This includes booster vaccines.

The Student & Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) has issued guidance for international students. In summary:

• SEVIS-Pending I-20’s (these include brand new students, transfer students, and change of education level students): if inside the US, or able to gain entrance into the US, all students must be registered as full-load students, BUT cannot be registered for ONLY online courses; they must have at least one (1) face-to-face course.

• SEVIS-Pending I-20’s (these include brand new students, transfer students, and change of education level students): if outside the US, the student can keep their fall admission and register for coursework online. The student’s immigration document I-20 will need to be re-issued for spring for entry into the US. If a SEVIS-Pending student decides not to register for fall, their admission and immigration document will need to be updated for the appropriate semester of deferral.

• Students in SEVIS-Pending status cannot enter the US more than 30 days after the current “report by date” on their immigration document I-20. It is important to note that all entry into the US, at any time, is at the discretion of the port of entry officials.

• SEVIS-Active students: international students who are currently outside the US, and are unable to return to the US, are able to keep their ACTIVE immigration status as long as they are registered appropriately to comply with immigration regulations (12 credits undergraduate students; 9 credits graduate students) in online coursework. Those students unable to comply with immigration regulations will have their immigration status terminated. It remains to be seen if a “continuing” student would be allowed to enter the US during the middle of a semester.

• SEVIS-Active students: international students who are currently in the US, OR are able to gain entrance into the US, are able to keep their ACTIVE immigration status as long as they are registered appropriately to comply with immigration regulations (12 credits undergraduate students; 9 credits graduate students); these classes can be all face-to-face, online, or a combination of both.

Students who study from their home country will have their documents reissued with the new dates to reflect when they will be starting or returning to campus. New students should contact Admissions and returning students should contact ISSS.