1/4/22
Dear Brooklyn Law School Community,
We continue to actively monitor developments regarding COVID-19 in our community and our region. Unfortunately, the Omicron variant has led to a massive increase in cases, even within vaccinated populations, and significantly heightened caseloads are likely to persist for several weeks. Accordingly, we have decided to maintain remote classes through Friday, January 28. In-person classes are to resume on January 31, which, as you will recall, is also the deadline for submission of booster documentation for those eligible to receive a booster.
While classes will be remote — as will school events, unless clearly stated otherwise in future communications — through January 28, the building will be open for other purposes, and the library will be open as normally scheduled, with any necessary changes shown on the library’s home page. Staff will continue to determine their in-person/remote schedules with their supervisors.
There are also a number of reasons for optimism. The experience of Omicron in other places has been that a brief (but extreme) surge in cases is followed within several weeks by a significant abatement. Increasing evidence also indicates that the Omicron variant generally produces less severe illness than previous variants (particularly among those who have been vaccinated and boosted), with hospitalization rates rising much less dramatically than the number of positive cases, even as those who do contract Omicron gain heightened immunity to those other variants. Moreover, multiple effective COVID-19 treatments are in the works that promise to further greatly reduce the risks of serious illness.
All these developments, building on the powerful impact of vaccines (and boosters), signal that we are moving ever nearer to an environment where COVID-19, while remaining present in the population and in our lives, becomes a background and relatively muted concern rather than a top-of-mind, behavior-altering one.
We look forward to a satisfying, and safe, spring semester. Many thanks to all for your ongoing efforts to ensure our community’s collective health and well-being.
Sincerely yours,
Michael T. Cahill (he/him)
President, Joseph Crea Dean & Professor of Law