Update for Students

August 18, 2022

Dear UNM Students:

The current surge of COVID infections among UNM students is impactful in many ways. Many students who become infected with the Omicron variant of COVID-19, especially those who are fully vaccinated, will have mild illness and will not need to seek medical care – they will just need to follow the guidelines for isolation and masking to protect those who are more vulnerable.

In order to preserve SHAC’s ability to focus on students who do need care for any reason, we are providing this additional guidance:

Respiratory Symptoms

If you are having active respiratory symptoms (e.g., fever, cough, sore throat, etc.) AND need testing for COVID 19, here are several options to consider:

Close Exposure

If you have a close exposure to someone who tested + for COVID-19, please refer to https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/if-you-were-exposed.html rather than call SHAC for guidance at this time, as we do not have the staffing capability to answer these questions and also care for sick students.

Positive Test Result

If you test + for COVID-19 and need to self-report, please refer to UNM Self-Reporting of Positive COVID-19 Diagnosis.

Other UNM COVID Concerns

For other UNM COVID concerns, University mandates and processes to deal with them, please see UNM Bringing Back the Pack.

We understand you may have a lot of questions related to exposures and the corresponding COVID safe practice guidelines, but we respectfully ask that our phone lines be used for students in need of medical/counseling services. Due to the high volume of calls, you may be asked to leave a message and we will return your calls as soon as possible during SHAC working hours.

If you are experiencing a medical emergency, call 9-1-1.

Thank you for your patience and understanding,

The University of New Mexico Student Health and Counseling Staff

For more info about COVID-19, see: