A couple walks across the Oregon State University-Cascades campus in 2021.

Oregon State University-Cascades will require COVID-19 booster shots for students and staff as the university plans to begin winter term in-person Jan. 3, despite ongoing concerns over the omicron variant of the coronavirus.

The university, which announced the new plans and requirements in a press release Tuesday, is strongly recommending that all students and staff receive a COVID-19 test and booster shot prior to returning to campus. Students living in residence halls will also be required to get tested when they return to campus next week.

“Everything we do is in order to keep in-person classes going to the extent possible,” said Andrew Ketsdever, Oregon State University-Cascades interim vice president. He added: “Students need to connect with each other and connect with faculty as well. Our online capabilities are very strong … But there’s nothing quite like being in person.”

Students and staff are required to get the booster dose winter term when they become eligible six months after receiving their second dose of Moderna or Pfizer vaccines or their single shot of Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The university’s decision to move forward with regular on-campus operations was informed by health officials and “buoyed by positive signs that Omicron, while highly transmissible, may be resulting in milder symptoms and fewer cases of severe illness, hospitalization and death,” Becky Johnson, OSU’s interim president, said in the press release.

Johnson said that the university’s vaccination rate of “more than 93% among OSU students and employees” can help prevent on-campus infection. Johnson added classrooms “have not been a significant source of virus spread” because students and faculty are vaccinated and wear masks.

The statement comes as all public universities in Oregon planned to hold classes on-campus as winter term begins, according to the press release.

Meanwhile, universities across California and Washington will temporarily have remote courses starting next week as COVID-19 infections surge nationwide due to the omicron variant. In Oregon, total COVID-19 cases climbed by 25% over the past week.

“We’re comfortable,” Ketsdever said of OSU’s decision to hold in-person classes regardless of increasing COVID-19 cases and other campuses going remote. “In all of the decisions (since March 2020), no decision comes easy.”

Ketsdever noted that the 1,300-student campus has yet to report an outbreak tied to university classrooms, even when the delta variant raged through Oregon over the summer. In all, 96% of OSU-Cascades staff and more than 89% of students are vaccinated, Ketsdever said.

OSU said it will offer voluntary COVID-19 testing as winter term begins next week and will assist local health care officials and agencies in promoting booster shot clinics and testing.

Ketsdever said OSU-Cascades’ testing facility in the Edward J. Ray Hall will be open three days a week for eight hours a day starting winter term. And the university plans to work with the Deschutes County Health Department to hold a booster shot clinic possibly as early as next week, Ketsdever said. He asked students and staff who are symptomatic not to come to campus.

The university’s COVID-19 protocols for in-person events will be reviewed and updated as the term continues, the press release said. OSU-Cascades will evaluate every event it has planned during winter term individually and decide whether it poses a risk of a COVID outbreak.

“Anything that would impact our ability to have in-person classes,” Ketsdever said, “we will cancel.”