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In deference to the CDC’s changed advice and the governor’s repeal of the statewide mask mandate, Brookdale rescinded its indoor mask mandate as of Monday, March 7.
The college has communicated that steadily for the past week. The idea was to make sure that folks knew the difference between repealing a mask mandate and banning masks, and to allow anyone who wanted a high-level mask time to find one. Masks are not banned; anyone can wear one for any reason. They just aren’t required.
I took walks around campus several times on Monday, both noticing people in hallways and peering into classrooms as I passed. I also spoke to a few professors about their classes. I wanted to get a sense of how many students wore masks and whether there was any confusion.
As of the first day, something like a quarter of students wore masks, according to my unscientific sample. Most students knew they didn’t have to, although a few managed to evade the news all this time.
It was an unseasonably warm day, so I came up with excuses to walk outside a few times. Masks were never required outdoors, though sometimes people would keep them on out of habit. There was much less of that on Monday.
I was a bit surprised that the level of mask wearing was as high as it was.
Different schools have taken different approaches. (The governor’s repeal didn’t ban mask mandates; it allowed the decisions to be made at the local level.) A few have decided to keep mandates through the end of the semester—at least for now. Others have decided to keep them until after spring break, which actually makes a lot of sense; sending students hither and yon for a week, only to have them return unmasked, seems risky. My consolation in that case is that most community college students don’t do spring break travel in the same ways that students at more elite places do, so the risk may not be as great here.
I don’t know whether mask use will remain at this level as the week goes on, but I hope it remains high enough that folks who want to wear one won’t feel social pressure to go without.
Local transmission rates are far lower than they were in the fall; I’m hoping they stay that way. Should a new Godzilla variant emerge and run rampant, of course, a mask mandate could come back. We know how to do that. Since the return to campus in September, masks have proved remarkably effective. Now we’re relying on the vaccination-or-testing mandate, along with lower community infection levels, to do the heavy lifting.
Wise and worldly readers at places that have just gone mask optional, what have you seen?
