The University of Arizona plans to make wearing masks on campus optional starting March 21 as long as campus transmission remains at a moderate level.
Monday is the first day back after spring break, and UA President Robert Robbins said he wanted to give people a chance to test after traveling and for officials to monitor case rates over the coming week before changing the requirement.
“I believe that it’s prudent to see what level of infection is present among our university community before changing our protocol for the Tucson campus,” Robbins said during a virtual briefing Monday.
If case counts continue to align with Pima County and most of the rest of Arizona, the university will be “well-positioned to relax our mask protocols,” he said.
That means starting next week, masks would be recommended but not required for indoor spaces at the Tucson campus and other Pima County locations.
The current policy requires people wear masks that are surgical-grade or higher in all indoor places where social distancing isn’t possible. Students have had to wear masks in classrooms since August.
Robbins said some might argue UA is “way behind the curve here,” but he defended the timing of removing the requirement as “really prudent and the safest thing,” for reasons including giving students and faculty time to know about the upcoming change.
Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University already have made masks optional for most locations, with the exception of places like shuttle buses and health facilities.
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The changes follow relaxed guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in late February that said most people don’t need to wear masks indoors in public if they are in areas with low or medium community spread of COVID-19. Nearly all of Arizona is in the medium category.
Universities began the semester amid a huge surge in omicron cases, but recently that’s slowed down. In late January, UA reported a seven-day average of over 250 new positive test results. In recent weeks, that number was below 20. Percent positivity was around 11% in late January; now it’s about 1%.
“We will continue to monitor public health conditions for locations throughout Arizona and elsewhere, and we will adjust protocols if we see an increase in testing positivity rates or if community levels return to high levels,” Robbins said.
UA’s Phoenix campus already removed its mask requirement on March 7 because Maricopa County has had a lower transmission level than Pima County for several weeks, he said.
Once the change is made, masks requirements would continue on university public transit, in places where patients or clinical research subjects are seen, and in areas where personal protective equipment was always required.
Robbins urged people to get tested for COVID-19, especially if they traveled over spring break, and said it’s not too late to get vaccinated or boosted.
Have a story about higher education? Reach the reporter at Alison.Steinbach@arizonarepublic.com or at 602-444-4282. Follow her on Twitter @alisteinbach.
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