College Loosens Masking Requirements for the Vaccinated
Masked Students in the CUB (By Aly Wein/ The Gettysburgian)
By Nicole DeJacimo, Managing Editor
This afternoon, Dean of Students Anne Ehrlich emailed the campus community and announced that vaccinated people will be allowed to unmask in certain inside spaces, unvaccinated folks will continue to mask in all indoor spaces except their personal offices and rooms.
“Over the past several weeks, we have closely monitored many indicators, including our consistently low campus positivity rate,” Ehrlich said.
The College continues to monitor the situation and plans to slowly decrease masking requirements but ensures the community that if cases go up, masking will return. They recommended that when students travel over Reading Days to follow local and state COVID-19 protocols.
Indoor spaces where vaccinated people still need to wear a mask include:
- In classes
- In official meetings/events in classrooms, meeting rooms, and event spaces (e.g. a student organization meeting in a classroom; a department meeting in a conference room; a faculty meeting in the CUB Ballroom)
- In Musselman Library
- In public administrative office areas (e.g. Financial Aid Office)
- In bookstore
Indoor spaces where vaccinated people can unmask:
- In dining halls
- In academic building when not in class
- In the fitness center
- In CUB when not in a conference room
These rules will not apply over Family Weekend, Oct 22-24, when hundreds of visitors will gather on campus. Though the student body has a high vaccination rate, the college will not require vaccination proof for guests that weekend, thus requiring masking for all in every indoor space.
Visitors are also now allowed in residence halls but not allowed an overnight stay.
The College did not say whether they would be requiring proof of vaccination status to distinguish between those who can and cannot wear a mask.
“Please remember that there are many reasons why a student or employee may choose to continue masking on campus,” Ehrlich said. “We support our fellow Gettysburgians in making these decisions based on their personal circumstances.”
