Reviewing the Mask Mandate’s Necessity
On March 21, 2022, the University of the Pacific sent an email to the Pacific community stating that the mask mandate would be lifted on March 25, 2022 due to “consistently low positivity rates.” This mandate had previously been in place for the entirety of the 2021-2022 school year. The email states that mandatory weekly COVID testing will also end. Members of the Pacific community can continue to test if they want to. These seemingly sudden changes in policy from the University make one wonder what was keeping cases down in the first place and if it is a good idea to remove mandatory masking and mandatory testing at the same time.
The Mayo Clinic clearly states that wearing facemasks helps to slow the spread of COVID-19. We have been having low positivity rates because of all of the school's prevention measures put together. This includes but is not limited to: hand washing, vaccinations, social distancing, and masking. Since masking is a key tool that we are actively using to prevent the spread of COVID, I disagree with the decision to revoke the mandate. It seems like the school is removing a key piece of armor against the virus. Many students have just returned from a spring break off campus and end of the year preparations are underway. This is not a convenient time to get sick, no time is. It is possible that masks helped us achieve “low positivity rates” and that the removal of masks will lead to higher positivity rates.
The University of the Pacific has also chosen to remove mandatory weekly COVID testing at the same time as they removed the mask mandate. Pacific used their on campus testing outcomes to identify how many people were tested and how many confirmed positives there were. I assume that these weekly tests are how the University was able to say that there has been “consistently low positivity rates” at the Stockton campus. How will the University be able to accurately identify if their removal of the mask mandate is somehow still protecting students? The simple answer is they won’t. Students and community members can still get tested if they want to. We will probably see a decrease in numbers of people who get tested and therefore will also see a decrease in the number of confirmed positive cases. This decrease could lead our community to falsely believe that the COVID-19 pandemic is prematurely over.
I agree that returning to “normal” is important and I really miss seeing all of my classmates' faces in lectures and labs. However, that nice sentiment is not more important than community health. I disagree with the University of the Pacific’s decision to remove both mandatory masking and mandatory testing at the same time. This decision to move back to a pre-pandemic normal would have made more sense if the University had removed either the mask mandate or the testing mandate and then provided a buffer period of a few weeks to gauge cases and reactions.
I will continue to wear my mask in class and around people who are not in my bubble even though the mask mandate has been removed. Personally, I have yet to witness a student who was not wearing their mask in class. We can only hope at this point that every member of the Pacific community will make the informed decision to protect themselves in the best way possible.
