Campus News

UH Dining’s COVID-19 procedures to remain unchanged in Fall 2021

UH Dining Cougar Woods Dining Commons is currently the only dining hall open to students this semester. | Sydney Rose/The Cougar

Cougar Woods Dining Commons is currently the only dining hall open to students this semester. | Sydney Rose/The Cougar

After altering dining plans and procedures this past year in light of the coronavirus pandemic, UH Dining will keep some of the same procedures going into the Fall 2021 semester.

With altered dining plans since the start of COVID-19, students have been limited to just one dining hall on campus with socially distanced seating, no self serving food stations and to-go options.

“We have adapted our procedures and policies since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and many of those practices will remain in place,” said UH Dining vice president of operation Charles Pereira.

“We will continue reviewing safety measures to align with (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and University guidelines,” Pereira continued.

The current dining hall open is Cougar Woods Dining Commons, but as Moody Towers may possibly not be housing students next semester, it is up in the air as to whether or not Moody Towers Dining Commons will be open.

As classes for the Fall 2021 semester are starting to go back to in-person and operations are starting to go back to normal, dining is still making decisions on how many dining halls will be open and if to-go plans will remain for the upcoming semester.

“Final decisions regarding open dining halls and the to-go program are based on meal plan enrollment, percentage of in person classes and on campus population,” Pereira said.

“Meal exchanges will continue to be offered and detailed options will be updated closer to the fall semester.”

UH dining is still determining opening additional retail locations and hours of operations once there is more firm information on the state of the pandemic, Pereira said.

A plan that was postponed and altered due to the pandemic was the deconstruction of the Student Center Satellite.

In replacement of the satellite, the Auxiliary Retail Center was supposed to begin construction in the summer of 2020, but has yet to begin.

“The design for the new retail center, which will be built at the current site of the Satellite, is being finalized,” Pereira said.

“Although the demo date has not yet been determined, the Satellite building has been cleared of equipment and is ready for demo to commence.”

For more of The Cougar’s coronavirus coverage, click here.

[email protected]

Leave a Comment