Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff:

Throughout the course of the pandemic, we at NBSS have closely watched the trends in Boston and in our own community, adapting our response as necessary to maintain the health and safety of everyone at NBSS. 

Due to the evolving situation of Covid-19 in the world—and our first positive case at the School—we must be ever vigilant to help contain the spread. It’s for these reasons that, as of today, NBSS is implementing new travel and testing policies for all students, staff, and faculty.

Outlined below are the new safety protocols, based upon the recommendations of our NBSS Covid Response Team, which includes advice from the medical field. These protocols pertain to travel and also gathering over the upcoming holiday, wherever that may be. The NBSS community should expect that these, or more strict travel advisories, will be in place for the winter break.

If you travel outside of Massachusetts, or spend time with others who traveled from outside of Massachusetts, we require that you: 

• Quarantine for seven (7) days upon your return home.
• Get tested after the fifth (5th) day of your quarantine, and 
• Produce a negative test result before returning to NBSS.

Regardless of travel, if you gather indoors, and are in close contact with people outside of your normal household over the break, we require that you: 

• Quarantine for seven (7) days after the gathering.
• Get tested after the fifth (5th) day of your quarantine, and 
• Produce a negative test result before returning to NBSS.

Note: This travel guidance is in addition to, not in replacement of, that issued by the Commonwealth, which can be found here. You can find more information on holiday travel and remaining healthy from the Centers for Disease Control here.

This was not a decision our Covid Response Team came to lightly, and I recognize that this news may be disheartening and disrupt your training. But based upon the advice from public health officials, and in the best interests of our entire NBSS community, we felt it was the most prudent choice.

If you have questions about these new guidelines, please reach out to Bryan McGrath at studentlife@nbss.edu or Claire Fruitman at provost@nbss.edu. For more information, including testing information and what to do if you’re sick, please view our Reopening NBSS page here.

As always, thank you for helping to keep NBSS a healthy, safe, and productive environment for everyone. Your dedication and continued vigilance are essential to all of us.

All my best,

Sarah Turner, President