Due to ongoing COVID instances and worries of an epidemic of monkeypox, Georgetown University is urging its students to continue wearing masks for the remainder of the fall term.
The oldest Catholic and Jesuit institution in the United States only has classrooms and labs where the mask requirement is in place.
According to the school’s public health and university operations, it is not required in “informal gatherings” such libraries, research labs, dining halls, dormitories, and study areas.
Additionally, students are required to comply with wearing masks on university-sponsored public transportation as well as in healthcare and early childhood education institutions.
If they test positive for COVID or have been exposed to someone who has tested positive, they must additionally wear a mask for ten days starting from the date of exposure or infection, in accordance with D.C. and CDC health recommendations.
Unless a medical condition or religious exemption is authorised, Georgetown is now requiring that all of its students, professors, and staff members get all recommended vaccinations, including booster shots, if they are eligible.
Due to an increase in COVID instances on college campuses during the most recent academic year (2021–2022), several high education institutions around the U.S. reinstated mask requirements.
In April, colleges in Texas, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., and New York reinstated a number of anti-virus measures, including mask requirements.
These institutions include Rice University, Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, and American University in addition to Georgetown.
While Howard University in Washington, DC, closed and turned to online learning, Syracuse University did the same.
Georgetown said at the time that a “substantial spike” in COVID cases left them with little alternative but to reinstate the necessity for indoor masks.
However, 98 percent of Georgetown’s academics, staff, and students had received the virus vaccination as of Thursday. However, 116 positive COVID instances on the campus of the university were recorded from August 14 to August 20, 2022.
This is the second-highest number of cases this year, after 117 students who tested positive between July 17 and July 23, and 168 between May 22 and May 28.
The university’s decision to maintain mask requirements comes after the CDC earlier this month revised its COVID-19 recommendations, deleting the advice that individuals should isolate themselves if they have close contact with an infected person.
The six-foot minimum distance between individuals has been abolished, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The adjustments, which come more than two and a half years after the epidemic began, are motivated by the realisation that 95% of Americans, aged 16 and older, have developed some degree of protection, either via vaccination or infection, according to agency officials.
A “test-to-stay” advice that indicated adolescents exposed to COVID-19 might frequently test — rather than quarantining at home — to keep going to school was also withdrawn by the CDC.
The option for testing vanished along with the advise to no longer use quarantine.
Masks are no longer indicated and are only now being recommended in places where community transmission is thought to be high or in cases where a person is thought to be at a high risk of developing a serious disease.
The return of the mask requirement to campus drew criticism from many alumni and student parents on Georgetown’s first day of classes on Wednesday.
Enjoy the mask, youngsters! What is the Gtown off-ramp then? Will you continue to disguise in class forever because COVID is here to stay? asked a former student on Twitter.
“COVID is here to stay, so will you continue to disguise yourself in class forever?” You make me ashamed.
Since I was a senior, I have given for over 15 years, despite all the awful news stories you’ve generated in recent years. I’m done.
Another person asked the same question on Twitter, adding: “When will it end?” and “As a parent, am I meant to be continually paying full tuition for a kid who’s being denied a complete, beneficial academic experience by an out of touch administration?”
Another user tweeted, “Stop mandating masks.” Kids are paying too much money to be exposed to this invasive foolishness in August and September 2022, and it is harsh and ridiculous at this stage.
It’s wonderful to see so many happy faces on campus! Another individual tweeted about it and criticised the institution for not adhering to its own set of guidelines.
During move-in, Georgetown had parents wear masks indoors on campus, even in their children’s dorm rooms. not what these pictures suggest.
Georgetown is also reiterating its mask requirement after a campus visitor tested positive for monkeypox in June.
Dr. Anil Mangla, an epidemiologist with DC Health, told NBC Washington, “We are trying to make sure that some of these colleges also have doses of vaccination accessible so that if there is a case, we can identify those situations relatively fast.”
The monkeypox vaccination is available in the region to college or university students who are enrolled and who are at least 18 years old.
Georgetown said in its message on health recommendations for the forthcoming year that the US declared a public health emergency in relation to the illness on August 4.
According to a World Health Organization study released on Thursday, the number of monkeypox cases recorded worldwide reduced by 21% in the previous week, reversing a month-long trend of growing infections.
According to WHO, cases in the Americas made up 60% of cases in the last month, while cases in Europe made up roughly 38%. It said that illnesses were “continue to steeply increase” throughout the Americas.
Since May, when outbreaks of monkeypox were discovered in Europe and North America, WHO and other health organisations have highlighted that this disease spread almost exclusively among males who had intercourse with other men.
Authorities in the United States, Europe, and the United Kingdom have all started restricting dosages to stretch supply by up to five times due to the restricted availability of vaccines internationally.
WHO has recommended that nations with vaccinations give priority to immunising individuals who are at high risk of contracting the illness, including as homosexual and bisexual males who have many sex partners, as well as medical professionals, lab workers, and those who react to outbreaks.