The last few days have seen a growing number of announcements from colleges and universities that they were re-imposing immediate campus mask mandates. The new mandate momentum can be traced in large part to the recently updated advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that fully vaccinated people should once again begin wearing masks indoors in places with high covid-19 transmission rates.
Just a few months ago, hundreds of campuses were informing their students and employees that they could anticipate a return to nearly normal campus operations after a year in which most on-campus activities and in-person teaching were derailed by the coronavirus pandemic. But that was before this summer’s dramatic outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus and the continuing unwillingness by as many as 100 millions of Americans to get vaccinated against the virus.
Now - just weeks before many colleges are poised to begin the new academic year - the picture has suddenly changed as many states see record rates of infection and hospitalization and colleges confront the reality that even fully vaccinated individuals can still suffer breakthrough infections and spread the virus.
The result? Many institutions are suddenly deciding to require that students, employees and visitors wear masks while indoors on campus. Here are a few of the leading examples.
On Monday, citing CDC guidance, University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel sent a message to the university community stating that all students, staff, faculty, contractors, and visitors would need to wear masks while indoors starting Tuesday, Aug. 3. The requirement applies to all of the university's campuses, offices and facilities across the state, and it’s a requirement for everyone, regardless of vaccination status.
In Missouri, a state where the latest Covid-19 spike has been particularly sharp, the University of Missouri announced it was requiring all students, faculty, staff and visitors to wear masks when in classrooms or meeting rooms, regardless of vaccination status. The mandate went into effect Monday, August 2 and will be re-evaluated by September 15, according to the university. Also in Missouri, Lincoln University, a Historically Black College and University, said it was reinstating a mask mandate for indoor areas on campus, effective August 2.
Michigan State University President Samuel Stanley informed the MSU community late last week that in addition to a vaccine requirement, the university would also require everyone to wear a mask indoors beginning August 1. He also cautioned that the requirement would extend at least until the first weeks of the fall semester. While stating that he believes the Covid-19 vaccine is “the best defense against the spread of the disease and the clearest path to the resumption of our on-campus living and learning,” Stanley also acknowledged what most university presidents are reluctantly coming to admit - the recent “CDC data is concerning and significantly shifts the landscape.”
In Connecticut, Quinnipiac University wrote to its students, faculty, and staff on Monday, informing them the university would require everyone to wear a face mask in all campus spaces. The rule went into effect immediately.
Effective Monday, Aug. 2, face masks were again required in all indoor spaces for everyone at Purdue University, including students, employees and visitors, regardless of their vaccination status. “We have a shared duty, part of the Protect Purdue Pledge, not only to preserve a manageable level of infection on campus so that we don’t have to suspend operations and interrupt our students’ education, but also to protect our surrounding community by doing everything we can to lessen the stress on local health care infrastructure, especially hospital capacity,” said Dr. Esteban Ramirez, chief medical officer of the Protect Purdue Health Center.
Other institutions recently requiring a “masks up” policy include the University of South Carolina, Ohio State University, Indiana State University, Cornell University, Yale University, University of Buffalo, Central Michigan University, and Auburn University.
In some states, like Kansas and Nevada, universities are reimposing masking requirements in response to their governors issuing mask mandates for employees in state facilities, including universities across the state. Meanwhile, in other states like Florida, the governor, rather than enabling public health mandates, belittles them instead.
The renewed masking orders come despite the increasing use of vaccination incentives or vaccine mandates by American colleges. While getting vaccinated remains the single most effective step a person can take to protect against serious illness from the virus, the fact remains that the Delta variant has proven to be far more severe than was first anticipated even by scientists and public health experts. Consequently - just as the fall semester is about to commence - institutions are increasingly being forced back to a policy they thought would be behind them by now. Masks are back - in classrooms, dining halls and libraries - and they may be with us for some time to come.
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August 03, 2021 at 05:00PM
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Pandemic Setback: Universities Scramble To Bring Back Mask Mandates - Forbes
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