UW prepares for a return to campus in fall 2021

With Autumn quarter set to begin at the end of this month and many UW staff beginning the return to on-campus work on Sept. 13, officials are making final preparations.

Heating, ventilation and cooling engineers have worked to ensure that air is properly flowing through buildings and classrooms. Filters are being changed more frequently, airflow machines are running longer and air purifiers have been added to many locations.

Facilities teams worked with experts across the university to determine the best way to adapt and ensure they were doing the most to keep campus safe. They deep-cleaned floors and carpets, dusted even in hard-to-reach places, power washed, and gave restrooms a thorough cleaning. High touch point surfaces like doorknobs, railings, elevator push buttons will get cleaned on a more frequent basis than they did pre-pandemic.

Campus housing also is expected to return to full capacity this year. About 10,000 students are expected to move into the residence halls this year. Isolation rooms are reserved throughout the residence halls to provide a safe space, should a student need to quarantine.

Many dining halls will have grab-and-go prepared meals, and officials are expanding the use of Dub Grub, an online, mobile food-ordering system.