Masks return indoors; booster shot clinics scheduled

Coming back from Thanksgiving break, the Pandemic Planning Committee has reintroduced the temporary masking requirement indoors and on transportation. This is a change from masking being optional indoors and required only on transportation. Casey Gordon, a chair member on the committee, was one of the main proprietors of this decision.

“The circumstances around the COVID-19 pandemic are constantly evolving,” she said. “With many students and employees leaving campus for the Thanksgiving holiday, there were concerns that this additional exposure could cause a rise in on-campus positive cases. The reintroduction of the mask mandate was to help mitigate these risks and carry our community safely through to the end of the semester.”

There has been quite a bit of feedback from both students and staff regarding the nature of this type of decision-making, with some saying they would prefer consistency and others saying they would prefer if things adjusted accordingly when the situation changes.

“[The masking mandate] was always intended to be a temporary mitigation in order to get us over the hurdle of having a lower vaccination rate,” Gordon said. “[Some] faculty continued to require masking in some classrooms, so the masking rules were not eliminated entirely.”

Gordon’s reasoning for more positive cases were straightforward—the cold weather has forced more people to interact indoors, which can lead to more spread of the virus.

This could add to the rising counts of cases in Minnesota. Despite this fairly dire news, Gordon and the rest of the committee along with Health Services are confident in their ability to ensure an in-person spring semester, as well as staying in-person for the rest of this semester.

Development of campus-wide testing clinics and vaccination clinics are in place, and Gordon surmises it can only go up from here.

“It is clear that students and employees love the convenience of having vaccines available right on campus. We also have positive feedback about the testing clinics as well. People express that they like the peace of mind that comes with knowing they are negative, especially after coming back from visiting family during the holidays,” Gordon said.

Along with vaccine clinics, Health Services has started offering booster shot clinics along with regular vaccine clinics here on campus. There were 240 spots available starting next week.

Within two hours, all spots were filled.

Clearly, there is a huge advantage to having resources like this on campus, and Gordon said Health Services will continue offering them as long as there is demand and availability.

“I love when they provide clinics on campus because it’s convenient, and students are more likely to get it,” CSB senior Jordyn Swoboda said.

While Gordon stated that we will continue to have mask mandates throughout the rest of the semester, the future is less certain.

She said conversations are taking place about what happens next semester and directed students to the COVID page for updates.