Daniela Tovar-Miranda
Staff Writer
Many students, staff and faculty members are still wearing masks, even as the university followed the state of Illinois and lifted its mandate on March 7.
Some faculty members are requiring face masks to be worn in the classroom or other on-campus locations. Places like the Wellness Center and the Goedert Center have announced that they will be requiring masks.
“Labs are smaller spaces, people are at high density in labs, and continuing the mask policy for a few more weeks is not burdensome,” said Biology Chair Scott Kreher in a Monday email to students.
Students say they understand the situation.
“I don’t really have an opinion on lifting the mask mandate. I know that COVID is still very serious so I understand why students and professors may still wear and require masks,” said senior Tyler Kara. “I know that a lot of lab classes, including the one I am in, require masks which I think is a good idea because of how often students are working in close proximity to each other.”
Individual faculty are also making the call about masks in their classes, even if their departments don’t require them.
English Professor Mary Scott Simpson is requiring students to wear masks in her LAS 207 seminar, a decision she made in consultation with the students prior to spring break.
“I cleared with the class that even if one person in the class is immune compromised or feels uncomfortable, it won’t hurt for us all to continue wearing masks, and in fact I did hear back from a student,” says Simpson. “I would be very surprised if there are any people silently complaining, because the whole focus of the course is actually taking care of other people and the world, and everyone seems on board.”
While masks will no longer be mandated, the university recommends that face masks should still be worn indoors and in spaces where social distancing is not possible, such as crowded spaces. Students that do not follow the mask mandate in place for those spaces that require them can face disciplinary action for their non-compliance with university policy.
Dominican’s Incident Management Assessment Team was involved in the decision to lift the mandate, says Elizabeth Ritzman, Wellness Center director. The team, made up of senior members of various departments within Dominican, has been meeting almost every Monday since the pandemic started.
“Everybody on that team has been helping in the process of gathering data including the Wellness Center. We’ve been tracking the COVID infections, what we are seeing, how likely it is that we’ll have campus spread, and making testing available,” said Ritzman. “We also include an epidemiologist in those meetings so that we have that kind of expertise.”
Students are also being reminded to use the Campus Clear App to report any symptoms and positive COVID tests.
Dtovarmiranda@my.dom.edu
