COVID-19 Updates: Vaccination, Forecasting Model

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Travel Guidelines

Staying Safe

For more information about how to travel safely, consult with the CDC guidance on holiday travel.

CDC Guidelines
A woman wearing a face mask at an airport

UT Southwestern is extending previous restrictions on UTSW-related travel.

  • No UTSW-related domestic or international travel through May 1, 2021

The restrictions apply to:

  • Faculty
  • Staff
  • Students
  • Residents
  • Trainees

UTSW-Related Domestic Travel

Approval is Needed

Domestic university-related travel should be only for mission-critical purposes.

  • Department chairs will need to approve in writing that an individual’s travel is critical to the UTSW research, teaching, or clinical mission.
  • For programs outside a department, the EVP responsible for the program will need to approve.
  • Written authorizations will be reviewed by the Travel Oversight Committee.

Essential Travel for Recruitment and Visiting Faculty

UT Southwestern allows travel associated with mission-critical faculty and staff recruitments and visiting faculty with approval.

For essential faculty and staff recruitments, all interviews must be conducted virtually until the final candidate pool is identified.

All visitors and finalist candidates considered essential must receive documented approval by the Chair/Center Director/VP and then the appropriate Executive Vice President or their designee prior to the coordination of the individual’s travel. The approval must be occupationalhealth-utsw@utsouthwestern.edu to Occupational Health so they are prepared to clear the individual to come to campus.

Prior to Travel to Campus 
  • Departments must communicate to the candidate or visitor the current UTSW COVID-19 safety protocols.
  • After discussions with the visitor or candidate, departments should coordinate travel arrangements based on candidate/visitor individual preferences and UT Southwestern requirements (e.g. rental car, car service, or rideshare programs).
  • When preparing itineraries, visitors or candidates may choose to forgo typical external dinners.
  • If requested, the individual would be provided a letter by the requesting department noting they are traveling related to an essential business/service.
  • Prior to travel, visitors or candidates must contact Occupational Health at 214-645-5300 48-72 hours in advance of arriving on campus to be cleared. This process will allow for approval based on previous travel history, current location, potential exposure risks, and current health symptoms.
Travel to/from Campus  
  • When arriving to or departing from Dallas, visitors or candidates may choose to travel via available rideshare programs, individual rental cars, or department procured pick-up accommodations.
  • Visitors or candidates must practice current face masking requirements while in transit if unable to maintain safe distancing while traveling to the campus or hotel.
While on Campus 
  • All visitors, candidates, and UTSW staff or faculty must follow current face masking and safe distancing requirements while on campus.
  • Each candidate/visitor must perform self-screening for COVID symptoms before proceeding to campus. If the individual has symptoms, they must notify the hosting department and they are not allowed on campus other than for health care if needed. The host department must verify self-screening for COVID-related symptoms was performed upon arrival to campus.
  • All visitors, candidates, and UTSW staff or faculty must adhere to the maximum gathering requirements of five or fewer individuals.
  • The department must maintain an itinerary that could be used for contact tracing if necessary.
After Departing our Campus 
  • The candidate/visitor must alert the host department if they become sick with COVID-19-related symptoms or confirmed positive within 14 days after departing campus.
  • The department would immediately alert Occupational Health and provide Occupational Health the itinerary for follow up.

All departments must continue to adhere to established UT Southwestern expense guidelines.

Meeting Size is Limited

Travel to attend meetings should comply with current campus standards for size of gatherings.

Staying Safe While Traveling

Additional Resources

  • Domestic air travel will be permitted for trips more than 3 hours by automobile, otherwise private automobile travel is preferred.
  • Face masks should be worn at all times during domestic travel, including time in airports, on airplanes, in taxis, or Uber/Lyfts. Mass public transportation, such as buses and subways, should be avoided.
  • Gloves and using sanitizing wipes are encouraged.
  • Consuming food other than that brought by the traveler on an airplane is discouraged.

Personal Travel

Personal travel will not be reviewed by the Travel Oversight Committee; however, you are encouraged to take the same precautions and safety measures during travel as you are asked to follow locally in DFW. Exposure to COVID positive individuals during travel for personal reasons may affect your ability to return to campus and to your regular professional or educational activities.

Instances that May Require Quarantine Upon Return to DFW
(Last updated Jan. 14, 2021)

Travel to a domestic or international hotspot may require a 7 or 10-day quarantine depending on specific high-risk activities, such as using public transportation (taxi, Uber, subway), visiting a health care facility, or being in a large gathering.

  • If you take a COVID-19 test on day 7 and it is negative, then you can self-monitor for the remaining 7 days.
  • If you choose not to test, please quarantines for 10 days and self-monitor for the remaining 4.

This list of “hotspot” domestic and international travel locations is determined by a group of UTSW ID, occupational health, and infection prevention and control experts based on available public data related to COVID-19 case numbers and trends from multiple publicly available sources. This list will be updated approximately every 2 weeks.

All Overnight cruises (domestic or international)

Domestic Locations:
All states except:

  • Hawaii
  • Vermont
  • Maine
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota

International Locations:

  • Costa Rica, Panama
  • Canada, Mexico
  • Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru
  • All of Europe and Eastern Europe excluding Greece, Bulgaria, Iceland, Norway, Finland
  • Russia
  • Lebanon, Israel, West bank/Gaza, UAE
  • Georgia, Cyprus
  • Namibia, South Africa

Returning to Campus Following Travel

All domestic and international travel to a COVID-19 hotspot and overnight cruises must be reported prior to returning to campus to one of the following:

The list of domestic and international COVID-19 hotspots is based on UTSW Infectious Diseases and Infection Control experts’ review of publicly reported data on COVID-19 cases, trends, and testing from various sources. This list of hotspots will be updated approximately every 2 weeks.

Travel Exceptions

Possible exceptions may be granted by the Travel Oversight Committee for mission-critical purposes and will require the written approval of the traveler’s Department Chair, Center Director, or EVP, as well as the Travel Oversight Committee.