Cal Poly students who are fully vaccinated will no longer be required to wear a mask in specific facilities including the Recreation Center and Performing Arts Center. The university will not check the vaccination status of students to determine whether they should be wearing a mask or not.
“For students, it will be self-attestation — by not wearing a mask, they are attesting that they are vaccinated,” university spokesperson Matt Lazier wrote to Mustang News over email. “They will not be required to show further proof of vaccination.”
The modification to the mask mandate policy does not include classrooms, labs, healthcare settings and Mustang Shuttle vehicles. All students regardless of vaccination status will be required to wear masks in those facilities, according to a campus-wide email from President Jeffrey Armstrong.
The email comes two days after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the statewide mask mandate to be lifted on Feb. 16. Masking is still required inside schools, according to the California Department of Health website.
San Luis Obispo COVID-19 rates are on the decline, Mustang News reported.
“If you are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19, including having received a booster if eligible, you must continue to wear a mask in all indoor spaces on campus and must continue to test every three days until further notice,” Armstrong wrote in the email.
Armstrong advised students to get vaccinated if they haven’t already, and for those still wanting to wear a mask, to “offer each other compassion and grace as each of us finds the masking practice that is safe and comfortable for us as individuals.”
However, some other universities in California still have mask regulations in place. In a press release from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Task Force to UCLA students, there are no changes with the statewide mask mandate being lifted. UC Santa Barbara is also continuing its masking regulations, as stated in a letter from the chancellor on Feb. 14.
Cal Poly will be offering free N95 masks in the University Union, the Recreation Center and the Disability Resource Center, starting Feb. 22. Further updates regarding masking in classrooms and labs are anticipated to be made on Feb. 23, according to the email.
Editor’s Note: This is a developing news story. Refresh for the latest updates.