Southeastern Requires Face Masks for all Faculty, Staff and Students
File Photo/The Lion's Roar
On July 28, Southeastern reinstated its mask mandate for all Faculty, Students and Staff regardless of their vaccination status
In a notice Wednesday to Faculty and Staff, it was announced that the university had updated its face masks/coverings policy to require masks indoors at all times, regardless of vaccination status.
In the e-mail notice, Southeastern President Dr. John L. Crain expressed his disappointment for the need to reinstate a mask mandate on campus. He also encouraged those who have not yet been vaccinated to do so as soon as possible to combat the rise of cases in the state over the last few weeks.
“Regrettably, until more members of our campus, local community, and state act on their collective responsibilities to protect themselves and others from COVID-19 by being vaccinated, the virus will continue to easily spread, and we will likely have to abide by these and perhaps even more restrictive measures. Accordingly, I cannot more strongly encourage those who are unvaccinated to get vaccinated as soon as possible,” he included in the notice.
The policy comes after the CDC recommended on Tuesday that fully vaccinated Americans wear masks indoors in areas of high COVID-19 transmission rates.
Their recommendations come as the Delta Variant of COVID-19 quickly becomes the dominant variant in the United States and has fueled an increase in new cases and hospitalizations, particularly in states with low vaccination rates.
The same day, Louisiana experienced the highest single-day increase of COVID-19 hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic in 2020. According to NBC News, about 90 percent of people hospitalized were unvaccinated.
As cases continue to increase, Crain recommended that faculty, staff and students listen to the guidance and data on vaccinations issued by the CDC and World Health Organization.
He noted, “As clearly indicated by the official recommendations disseminated by the Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization, the COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the U.S. have proven overwhelmingly to be safe and effective.”
For more information about vaccination resources on campus, visit the COVID-19 Vaccination page found on the university’s website.
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Dylan Meche is a Political Science major from Baton Rouge and serves as Opinions Editor. He has been a reporter for The Lion's Roar since August of 2019....
COVIDiocracy • Jul 29, 2021 at 2:06 pm
Absolute insanity! It is outrageous that the university made such a short-sighted decision based on faulty data and literal assumptions from Fauci. I’m not taking the experimental injection! What’s the point of even taking it anymore if you still need to wear a mask? How on earth are the vaccines “safe and effective” if you still need a mask? What a joke!