KN95 Masks Required for All Indoors at UMB
January 12, 2022
UMB COVID-19 Recovery Task Force
UMB is taking this step due to the spike in COVID-19 cases. If you do not have a KN95 mask, please contact your supervisor to obtain a free mask.
As COVID-19 cases spike due to the Delta and Omicron variants, an added layer of protection is being implemented for all at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB).
Starting Monday, Dec. 20, all UMB faculty, staff, and students are required to wear a KN95 mask or equivalent while indoors at UMB’s campus or at an off-campus location occupied by UMB community members (e.g., Shady Grove, MPRC, Donaldson Brown, Columbus Center, etc.), regardless of vaccination status.
If you do not have a KN95 mask or need an additional one because your current KN95 is no longer safe to wear, please contact your supervisor to obtain a free mask.
For instructions on how to wear and care for your KN95 mask, as well as to know which KN95 equivalent masks are acceptable at UMB, please visit this link.
Please stay home if you are sick whether you think you might have COVID-19 or not. If you do have symptoms or have COVID-19, please call the COVID-19 Hotline at 1-800-701-9863.
Vaccine Boosters
In addition, members of the UMB community are strongly encouraged to get a COVID-19 booster shot as soon as possible.
This week, Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, shared with the nation that while the primary two-dose vaccination series from Pfizer and Moderna offer considerable protection against severe disease, the vaccinations are severely compromised by Omicron.
However, there is good news: The available booster shots protect against Omicron.
If you have received your booster and signed the Chesapeake Regional Information System for Our Patients (CRISP) authorization to share your vaccination data, UMB may already know of your booster status. Please help UMB by confirming we have your booster data in the
COVID-19 Management Portal.
If we do not have your booster data, the easiest way to share is by authorizing your vaccination to be shared with UMB via CRISP. This can be completed in the portal.
If you have not used the CRISP authorization, or were vaccinated at a health care facility that does not use CRISP, please upload your booster information in the portal, at the bottom of the page.
While there is no requirement from UMB to receive a booster at this time, emerging variants can cause the University’s situation to change quickly due to their sudden impact. UMB leadership will be in touch if policies regarding booster shots change.