Dear Campus Community,
Despite the new CDC masking guidance, CC’s masking protocols continue for now. Students, faculty, and staff should continue to wear masks indoors and outdoors on campus, maintain social distancing, wash hands frequently, and stay home if they are sick.
The newly loosened CDC guidance cannot be implemented at this time on campus. We are working on processes that will allow our students, faculty, and staff to submit proof of vaccination, but before we know the vaccination rate on campus, enforcing new masking protocols would be invasive to privacy and create issues of stigmatization. In addition, there have been breakthrough cases — where a fully vaccinated person becomes infected with COVID-19 — at CC and nationally, and we want to avoid setbacks due to variants.
We wish to move forward as one community. Therefore, our approach is to tie masking policies to vaccination levels. Students, faculty, and staff will soon be able to submit proof of vaccination to the college.
As a first step, when CC vaccination levels have reached the 50% range, everyone (vaccinated or not) will be allowed to be unmasked outdoors on campus in social contexts while maintaining social distance. This may be the case in early summer. Indoor masking still will be required of everyone. Once vaccination levels are high, ventilation in buildings is adequate, and the COVID-19 incidence in the county is low, we will revisit the indoor masking policy.
Our protocols for our two Commencement ceremonies on May 23 and May 30 also remain the same.
Thank you for continuing to keep our campus as safe as possible by wearing a mask, maintaining social distancing, washing hands frequently, and staying home if you are ill. We encourage everyone to be vaccinated so we can soon return to the in-person CC residential liberal arts experience that we all value.
Sincerely,
Andrea Bruder,
Associate Professor of Mathematics/Associate Dean of the Faculty/Scientific Advisory Group Chair
Brian Young
Vice President for ITS/COVID Response Leadership
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