Stacey SpiehlerThe University of Mississippi is now requiring masks and face coverings only in instructional areas and healthcare settings regardless of vaccination status, according to an email Chancellor Glenn Boyce sent on Feb. 11.
“We are certainly in a different place this spring than we were spring 2020 or even spring 2021,” Boyce wrote. “We have developed protocols that are proven to be effective when we experience a surge in cases. We have also seen our case counts reduce significantly from the beginning of the semester to today.”
Photo by HG Biggs.
No masks are required in dining areas, residence halls, the library, the Union, the gym — only in classes and medical areas like Student Health Services.
The Mississippi State Department of Health’s website recommends wearing “a mask in all indoor public settings, even if you are vaccinated,” but the university is acting in accordance with recent communication from MSDH on mitigation strategies.
Boyce asked the university community to respect the needs of those who are high risk, unable to be fully vaccinated or feel more comfortable wearing masks.
Faculty and staff may also require face coverings for their private offices. Rebecca Marchiel, an associate professor in the history department, is concerned for her young daughter’s safety, saying on Twitter, “Do not come NEAR my office without a mask, thanks.”
Lauren Gallagher, a graduate student pursuing a Master’s in Counselor Education with a focus on mental health, expressed resigned sadness to everyone’s negative attitudes about masks, including her own.
“I feel like the impetus for all of this is an overall desensitization to death,” Gallagher said. “We’re dropping masks because the deaths went down to the 50s?”
Senior criminal justice major Mac Metz has always opposed mask mandates.
“I call myself pretty informed, and my mom is an ER physician,” Metz said. “The science has not supported masking of any kind, especially with omicron.”
As of Feb. 2, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was still recommending masks as the best protection against all variants of COVID-19, especially indoors.
Elsewhere in the SEC, Mississippi State and LSU also went maskless with similar stipulations on Feb. 14. Alabama plans on removing their mask mandate on Feb. 21. Auburn, Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Florida still have mandates in effect. Tennessee dropped their masks on Jan. 20. Georgia has no mandate.
Boyce’s email ends with an assurance of continued monitoring of the COVID-19 virus’ impact on the school, and the university will make adjustments to policies as necessary.
Mississippi is beginning to taper off the omicron variant’s brutal impact, with 1,062 new cases and 75 new deaths on Tuesday, with 14 reported cases on the university campus.
