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Friday, August 6, 2021

Masks at Santa Cruz

UC Santa Cruz to require masks on campus

Ryan Stuart | Santa Cruz Sentinel | Updated 8-6-21

UC Santa Cruz updated its masking policy for the upcoming fall semester. The university will require all people on campus to wear a mask while indoors, regardless of vaccination status. UCSC issued the mandate in an email to all students, staff and faculty Monday. Masks are only required in shared indoor spaces on campus. Those alone in a non-public office or students in their dorm rooms or private residences on campus are not required to wear a mask. The requirement took affect Tuesday. The move is in response to the latest Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidance. As the delta variant spreads, the CDC has recommended that even fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors to further prevent the spread of the disease...

Recently, the delta variant has been the cause of the COVID-19 case rate doubling in the county, according to county health officials. However, the county has yet to put a regional mask mandate in place. Currently, all people are recommended to the wear a mask indoors. The county’s case rate isn’t as high as nearby counties, Santa Cruz County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel told the Sentinel earlier this week regarding a mask mandate. The university’s newest requirement works in tandem with its vaccine requirement it issued in June. The vaccine mandate requires all students, staff and faculty returning to campus to upload proof they received the COVID-19 vaccine. The university is making exceptions for those with medical or religious exemptions. However, unvaccinated people on campus were required to wear masks. Now everyone is under that requirement. The vaccine mandate went into effect Wednesday.

Despite the rising case numbers and newest mandates, the university still plans to return to mostly in-person classes on campus for the fall quarter...

Full story at https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2021/08/05/uc-santa-cruz-to-require-masks-on-campus/.

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