Masked students walking around hallway

Personal Health & Wellbeing

The health, safety, and wellbeing of our students and our New York Tech community remain our highest priority.

All students, faculty, and staff are required to follow the university’s health and safety protocols on all of the following:

  • Hygiene and handwashing
  • Staying home when sick
  • Reporting incidents of exposure to and/or positive test results for COVID-19

Personal Safety

To reduce transmission of the coronavirus, everyone should continue to follow these general precautions to avoid becoming infected or spreading the virus:

  • Frequently wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
  • Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available.
  • Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when coughing or sneezing.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
  • Avoid shaking hands.
  • Disinfect frequently touched objects using a household cleaning spray or wipe.
  • Avoid traveling and contact with others if you are sick.

If You’ve Tested Positive for COVID-19

The CDC and the New York State Department of Health have updated their guidelines regarding respiratory illnesses including COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). We have updated our guidelines accordingly.

  • If you are a non-clinical employee or non-clinical student and have tested positive for COVID-19, you are no longer required to notify the university.
  • However, you must stay home and away from others (including people you live with who are not sick), if you are positive for COVID-19 or have respiratory virus symptoms that are not better explained by another cause. These symptoms can include fever, chills, fatigue, cough, runny nose, and headache.
  • All employees should contact HR if they are too ill to work onsite or work remotely due to COVID-19 symptoms (at least through July 2024).

You can go back to normal activities when both of the following are true for at least 24-hours:

  1. Your symptoms are getting better overall; and
  2. You no longer have a fever without the use of fever-reducing medication.

When going back to normal activities, individuals should take added precautions over the next five days, including taking additional steps for:

People may still be able to spread the virus that made them sick, even if they are feeling better, so it is important to take these extra precautions after resuming normal activities.

If you develop a fever or start to feel worse, you should stay home and away from others again. Use the same criteria for returning to normal activities as when you had symptoms and take added precautions over the next five days.

Clinical Students, Faculty, and Staff

  • Clinical students (i.e., those working in the health centers) who test positive for COVID-19 must continue to notify New York Tech by emailing contacttracing@nyit.edu.
  • Clinical faculty and staff who test positive for COVID-19 must notify New York Tech by emailing the Office of Human Resources at hrbenefits@nyit.edu.