July 30, 2021

To: All Yokohama National University Students

Executive Director (General Affairs) and Vice President Masaki Takagi

Executive Director (Education) and Vice President Hiroyasu Yachi

The number of new cases of COVID-19 infections is rising rapidly, and later today, Kanagawa Prefecture is expected to become subject to a declaration of a state of emergency.

Naturally, we will need to pay greater attention to avoiding the spread of infections. However, after careful consideration of the situation outlined below, Yokohama National University will, for the near future, remain at Stage 1.5 of the “Yokohama National University Guidelines on Preventing the Spread of Coronavirus Infections.” The university will, as a rule, hold the 2021 spring semester and Term 2 final examinations in the way that was already communicated to you by your instructors (that is to say, each final examination will still be in-person or report-based as originally scheduled, except for courses whose final examinations were already conducted during a regular class session).

The university continues to ask all students to pay careful attention to their health situation daily. Moreover, thanks to the wearing of masks, the use of temperature-sensing devices, sanitizing agents, and the like in all classroom buildings, and good ventilation of spaces, no spread of infections has been identified on campus thus far. Final examinations will be held with proper distances between students, and hardly any conversation will take place. Through these steps, the risk of infection spreading will be greatly reduced. The university arrived at its decision on how to conduct final examinations by considering these factors.

Students who are worried about their health condition, commuting to campus, or other matters should contact the academic affairs section of their home faculty and request that alternative measures be taken. Details for this can be found in the “Yokohama National University guidelines on preventing the spread of coronavirus infections in in-person classes” (released March 16, 2021).

In certain courses, final examinations originally scheduled to be conducted on campus may be changed to final reports or other methods. Students should pay careful attention to any contact sent from the university or from their course instructors.

As a final point, the spread of infections within Yokohama appears to be getting substantially worse. For Yokohama National University too, the number of infected persons off-campus has been increasing. Students have taken measures to prevent the spread of infections over quite a long time already. For your own health and the health of your family and friends, we urge you once more to thoroughly take measures to prevent the spread of infections while also taking care not to become infected yourself, and not to allow others to become infected.