The Touchdown statue by Teagle Hall sports an N95 respirator on March 17, 2020. (Boris Tsang/Sun Photography Editor)
ITHACA, N.Y. – In a Cornell ALERT sent this evening, the university announced that it would be moving to COVID-19 alert “yellow,” while not announcing a change in its masking policies.
The university said that COVID-19 cases were “increasing beyond the university’s predictions, indicating a substantial prevalence of the virus on campus.” Cornell’s COVID-19 dashboard reported 151 new cases on Tuesday. In a separate statement, university officials attributed rising transmission to factors such as “relaxing mask requirements, the emergence of the BA.2 variant, and increased social activities.”
Though the university stated that public health officials recommend wearing “a high-quality face mask,” the university’s additional guidance on masking still reads that mask requirements have been “lifted for the majority of on-campus locations.” Masks are still mandatory in classrooms, testing sites, and buses, except for faculty who can physically distance while teaching.
In addition to encouraging students to wear masks during social events, university officials urged them to, “Pick up two antigen test kits from any COVID-19 testing site on campus” to complete before and after spring break.
As of today, 97% of students are fully vaccinated, and 92% have received the booster, according to Cornell’s COVID-19 dashboard.
