In an email to students, staff and faculty Friday morning, Chancellor Donde Plowman said UT would update its COVID-19 guidelines to reflect the CDC’s downgrading of Knox County to a medium COVID-19 community level.

On Thursday, the CDC announced that over 90% of Americans live in areas where it is safe to go without a face mask. Until yesterday, Knox County was considered a high risk region. Now that Knox County has been downgraded to a medium COVID-19 level and campus case counts are in the single digits, Plowman said UT would treat the virus like any other illness. 

The email signaled a shift away from guidelines specific to COVID-19 and towards a more individualized approach to fighting the virus.

“With our case counts on campus low and our understanding, tools, and treatments for COVID-19 continuing to grow, we are coming to a place where we manage COVID on campus much as we manage other illnesses like the flu,” Plowman said. 

The CDC recommends that those at a high risk for severe illness speak with a health care provider about masking and other precautions against COVID-19.

On a campus with no mask or vaccine mandates, Plowman said UT would change signage across campus encouraging masking to instead recommend staying home in the event of illness and practicing routine health hygiene.

Rapid COVID-19 tests are available through the Student Health Center, and UT will still use its COVID-19 support form to give guidance to the campus community. 

As the community risk level drops and the CDC charts a course to a future without masks, Plowman’s message reflected a hopefulness that campus will begin emerging in full from the years-long pandemic.

“It has been almost two years since we had to first respond to COVID-19. Members of our community have endured so much in that time and shown such resilience and compassion for others,” Plowman said. “We have come a long way in two years, and I have never been prouder to be a Volunteer.”