Penn State is relaxing its face mask policy across most campuses. Here’s what you should know
With much of Pennsylvania now experiencing a decline in COVID-19 cases, Penn State announced that it will officially relax its policy on face masks come Monday.
According to the university, face masks will no longer be required in many indoor settings Monday at University Park and most other campuses — although the requirement will remain in effect in classrooms, labs and other academic and creative spaces “due to high-density congregation.” Masks will also continue to be required where mandated by law or regulation, such as COVID testing centers, health care settings and public transportation.
According to a Penn State spokesperson, masks will not be required inside places such as the Bryce Jordan Center and the HUB-Robeson Center. Masks will still be encouraged indoors, however.
Friday morning’s announcement comes on the heels of much of the commonwealth moving out of the high level on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new COVID-19 scale. On late Thursday afternoon, Centre County — alongside many counties in Pennsylvania — was moved to the medium level, which does not contain the CDC’s recommendation to wear masks in indoor public spaces.
Penn State’s new masking policy applies to all but two Penn State campuses, the College of Medicine and Penn State Schuylkill. The College of Medicine will continue to align its mandate with Penn State Health, while Schuylkill’s exclusion comes because its home county remains at the high level.
“Our community really stepped up in January and February, embracing our mitigation measures to help us be successful in maintaining in-person classes and activities, allowing our campuses to thrive,” Penn State President Eric Barron said in a written statement. “In consultation with our COVID-19 operations team, and recognizing that all but one of our campuses (Schuykill) are in counties currently designated by the CDC to have low or medium COVID-19 Community Levels, we have determined that we have reached a point where we can allow each individual to choose to wear a mask and no longer mandate that they be worn indoors, except in our academic and creative spaces.
“We are hopeful the diligence of our community in mitigating this disease will continue throughout the spring semester.”
Despite the relaxed policy on face masks, other COVID-19 mitigation measures remain in effect. In other words, students who have still not indicated that they’re fully vaccinated must continue to undergo weekly testing, university contact tracing will continue, and quarantine/isolation space will remain available.
Student testing hours at University Park’s White Building will be limited during spring break, from Saturday through March 12, but will resume as normal afterward. (Spring break hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday with closed days on Sunday and March 12.) Students showing symptoms are also asked to continue scheduling testing appointments via myUHS.
“Our campuses are highly vaccinated communities and, along with declining case numbers, we are seeing hospitalizations decline as well at our local health care facilities,” said Kelly Wolgast, director of Penn State’s COVID-19 Operations Control Center. “Even with this shift in the masking mandate, individuals who feel that masking is something they wish to continue can of course continue this mitigation strategy.”
In Centre County, home to Penn State’s flagship campus, there were 161 weekly COVID cases between Feb. 24 and March 2. By comparison, the month of January saw 22 days with more than 160 cases, with a pandemic-high 415 cases on Jan. 16 alone. The University Park campus saw a similar decline, with 631 weekly cases in mid-January and just 26 weekly cases in late February.
State College Borough also announced Friday morning that its emergency mask ordinance is no longer in effect, meaning students and visitors to the downtown are no longer required to mask up inside businesses.
According to Penn State’s COVID-19 dashboard, 91.9% of University Park students claim to be vaccinated in addition to 86.3% of employees.
This story was originally published March 4, 2022 at 8:22 AM.
