COVID-19 Information

Stay up-to-date with how you can help keep our community safe.

Updated September 25, 2023

Acadia University is pleased to provide our students, faculty, and staff with the opportunity to learn and work together safely.

We follow the advice of Nova Scotia’s Public Health Authority and our Occupational Health and Safety Committee. We expect all employees, students, contractors, and visitors to campus to do the same.

Acadia is advising students to use the declaration form for COVID-19 related absences.

Although masking is no longer mandated on campus, Acadia is mask-friendly and encourages mask use.

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PROTECT YOURSELF AND OTHERS

  • If experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and its variants or other seasonal illnesses, please stay at home. If unable to, please wear a mask and follow all public health directives and recommendations while moving around campus.
  • Campus community members and visitors are urged to take personal precautions to keep themselves and others healthy.
  • Please be considerate of those in our community with health conditions that place them in high-risk categories or live with individuals with high-risk health concerns.
  • Remember to respect those who choose to wear masks in public places.

This website will continue to be updated as needed.

 

Vaccination is your best shot

Although proof of vaccination is not required to attend campus, in keeping with Public Health guidance, you are strongly encouraged to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and its variants, including having any booster shots that you are eligible to receive in your home province or country.

Being fully vaccinated protects you from a serious illness and helps reduce the spread of the virus when your symptoms are kept to a minimum. We also encourage you to monitor your health for signs of symptoms and take appropriate precautions. Washing your hands regularly and wearing a mask in indoor public spaces are great ways to reduce your potential for catching and spreading the virus to others.

Latest Updates

View all COVID-19 Updates 

Need Help?

Need Information?

Need Answers?

Contact residencelife@acadiau.ca for residence-related COVID-19 inquiries, and visit our Student Services page for mental health support and more.

Employees should speak with their direct supervisor.

COVID-19 Symptom Daily Self-Assessment

Thank you for doing your part to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Watch for symptoms:

Symptoms can vary from person to person and in different age groups. Symptoms may take up to 14 days to appear after exposure to COVID-19. The severity of COVID-19 symptoms can range from mild to severe, and in some cases, can lead to death. Current information suggests most people don't experience severe illness or need to be hospitalized.

You need to self-isolate and complete a COVID-19 self-assessment if in the past 48 hours you've had or you're currently experiencing:

  • cough (new or worsening)

or

  • 2 or more of the following symptoms:
    • fever (chills, sweats)
    • headache
    • runny nose or nasal congestion
    • sore throat
    • shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

Follow the prompts to determine if you require a rapid test or a PCR test.

Isolation Protocols

If you are experiencing symptoms, please isolate and stay home. Isolating means that you remain in your personal residence room or personal space (off-campus), avoid all contact with others, and do not allow others to visit you. You can use the washroom and disinfect, but wear a mask when you need to walk through common areas and do not share kitchen facilities. This is required by the Province of Nova Scotia Emergency Act and there can be fines starting at $2422.

Students

If you are a student and need to self-isolate:

  1. Contact Safety and Security (902-585-1103 or email security.office@acadiau.ca). We can help you and coordinate any supports you might need, including meal delivery if you live in residence.
  2. Notify your instructors to let them know you will not be physically present in class. They can arrange alternatives to keep you informed (remotely or otherwise) about classroom activities and assignments.
  3. Complete a COVID-19 self-assessment from the province to determine if you need a rapid test or PCR test, then book an appointment if needed.

Employees

If you are an employee or contractor working on campus and need to self-isolate:

  1. Contact your direct supervisor to let them know you will not be physically present on campus.
  2. Discuss your ability to perform your duties remotely or work out an alternative arrangement.
  3. Complete a COVID-19 self-assessment from the province to determine if you need a rapid test or PCR test, then book an appointment if needed.

If you are on-campus when symptoms occur

  1. Wash your hands.
  2. Wear a mask.
  3. Contact Safety and Security (902-585-1103 or email security.office@acadiau.ca). If you are an employee, also notify your immediate supervisor that you need to leave work.
  4. Go directly to your residence room or home with no stops. Wear your mask until you are in your personal space. Practice physical distancing and stay in your room except to go to the bathroom.
  5. Complete a COVID-19 self-assessment from the province to determine if you need a rapid test or PCR test, then book an appointment if needed.

If you test positive for COVID-19

  • Visit Public Health’s Tested Positive site and follow their guidance.
  • You will need to isolate for 7 full days, with your first day of symptoms considered “Day 0”.
    • For example, if you feel symptoms on January 2 (Day 0) and test positive on January 3 (Day 1), you would be required to isolate until end of day, January 9. To leave isolation, you must have no fever for 24 hours, and your symptoms should be almost absent or gone.
    • If you are not experiencing symptoms, then you would use the same time span using the positive test as Day 0, and moving forward from there.
  • Do not come to campus.
  • If you live in residence, do not leave your room except to go to the bathroom. please call Safety and Security at 902-585-1103 so they can ensure you are isolating, have the resources you need, and deliver meals to you. Please reach out to Safety and Security if you are having any concerns or issues.
  • Determine your close contacts. Identify which day your symptoms began and then go back 48 hours (which is when you would have begun being infectious) until you began isolating. For example, if your symptoms began on a Wednesday, consider all your activities beginning that Monday until you began isolating. Identify individuals, places, times, and if you removed masks during those times.

Mask and Vaccination Policies

Anyone coming to campus should continue to complete a daily symptom check. Effective April 30, we continue to encourage you to wear a mask and ensure you are fully vaccinated, but masks and social distancing are no longer mandatory.

Client Service

Be prepared for changes as we move through the Omicron wave/sixth wave of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia. Some services and departments may require a change in hours of operation, move to an appointment-only or remote model. We encourage you to contact the department or visit their website before visiting.

The provincial government has completed its three-phase reopening plan, and almost all province-wide restrictions (gathering, social distancing, etc.) have been dropped. Some restrictions remain in place in high-risk settings, such as healthcare and continuing care.

Provincial News Updates

Read the latest provincial news updates 

As we prepare to return to the classroom on Monday, some students have questions, so we are providing some answers and helpful links to help students transition back to in-person learning.

In consultation with employee groups, we are actively planning safe operations that better align with recent changes in public health guidance. Today, we are sharing an update to assist with your planning.

Dear colleagues,

Through the dedication, hard work, and creativity of faculty and staff across our campus, supported by the collective commitment of students and the broader Acadia community to protect themselves and one another, together we have made our campus home a safe place to live, work, and learn through the pandemic to date.

We must sustain our commitment and vigilance a little longer as we enter what we all hope will be the end phase of the pandemic and the eventual return of many of the activities that make Acadia special for us all – students, employees, alumni, and community.

As we complete another academic year working through the challenges presented by the pandemic, thank you for your continued work as a community committed to individual and collective health and safety. As a university community, we have been enormously successful in keeping COVID-19 out of our campus and, more recently, containing any spread because of the new wave of infection.

I can’t thank you enough for all of the work you have done to that ensure our approach worked so well. However, as the COVID-19 virus mutates and changes as the pandemic evolves, so must we adapt our approach to those changing circumstances.