The Touchdown statue by Teagle Hall sports an N95 respirator on March 17, 2020. (Boris Tsang/Sun Photography Editor)
Cornell University will begin to remove its indoor masking requirements on Monday, per university email.
In a Friday afternoon update to the campus community, university officials said that they plan to lift the mandate “for the majority of on-campus locations,” beginning on Monday. The policy will remain in-place for transportation, healthcare & testing facilities, and instructional/teaching settings. The statement said, “Faculty who are able to maintain physical distance from others while teaching may choose to do so unmasked.” The university originally instituted the mask mandate as part of its Fall 2020 reactivation plan.
The development comes as other institutions in the Ivy League have lifted their indoor mask mandates. The Yale Daily News reported that the university also decided to partially rescind its mask policy, still requiring students to “wear a face mask in all classrooms and instructional spaces, on campus transit and at healthcare facilities such as Yale Health.” On March 2, Princeton University announced that it will be “moving from mandatory masking to optional masking in most situations,” beginning on March 14.
Ithaca College ended its mask mandate on March 4, with community members still required to wear masks in specific buildings and faculty retaining discretion on mask-wearing in classroom settings.
The university changes its policy in a time when COVID-19 restrictions are being rolled-back nationwide. Los Angeles County got rid of its indoor mask mandate on March 4. New York City lifted its proof-of-vaccination requirements to enter restaurants, fitness centers, and other indoor spaces. And New York governor Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.) announced that she would end the state’s masking requirements in schools. The Tompkins County Health Department also suspended its mask advisory last month.
The university has lifted several of its COVID-19 restrictions recently. In late February, Cornell announced that it would no longer require individuals who are fully vaccinated and received the booster to participate in regular surveillance testing. Surveillance testing requirements remain in place for unvaccinated students, faculty, and staff and those who did not receive the booster shot.
As of the time of publication, the university’s COVID-19 vaccination requirement and booster mandate remain in place.
