Mask mandate returns, some students skeptical

EMMA CARLSON

Contributing Writer

Continued from front page

VCU requires both students and faculty on campus to receive a COVID-19 vaccine unless they have a religious or health exemption. The vaccination dashboard displays current percentages of vaccinated individuals, and as of Sunday, 90.2% of students and 86.6% of faculty have verified their full vaccination status.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized three COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use in the United States: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson (Janssen).

On Monday, the Pfizer vaccine became the first to receive full FDA approval for those 16 years and older, according to the FDA.

As of Tuesday, 55.9% of Virginians are fully vaccinated and 63.2% have at least one dose, according to the VDH. In Richmond, 51.9% of the adult population is fully vaccinated and 58.1% have at least one dose.

Richmond City is considered an area of high transmission of COVID-19, which is determined by having over 100 new cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day moving period. For areas of high transmission, the CDC recommends additional prevention strategies such as masking indoors and physical distancing for all individuals.

Spokesperson Michael Porter failed to elaborate why VCU only reinstated the mask mandate and not physical distancing. Porter did not comment on the delta variant.

“VCU’s decisions are based on recommendations from the university’s Public Health Response Team,” Porter stated in an email.

Porter is a member of the university’s PHRT.

Social work graduate student Rebecca Shannon was frustrated about VCU’s decision to reimplement the mask mandate. Awaiting her first year of grad school in person, she was disappointed in the policy.

“I think it’s safe to err on the side of caution,” Shannon said, “but I also don’t love it.”

Shannon felt that although VCU is taking CDC recommendations into consideration, those who determine the university’s policies are not all medical personnel. Of the 15 members on the PHRT, eight have a doctorate of medicine or M.D., but this is not stated directly on the webpage.

The PHRT reviews current guidelines from the CDC, VDH, and VCU’s own medical personnel when determining uni versity public safety policies, according to Porter.

Shannon also felt VCU was not being upfront with why they decided to reinstate masking and not physical distancing.

“You can’t have this many students on campus and physically distance the way you’re supposed to. You can’t. It’s not pos sible,” Shannon said. “VCU is a business, and they’re trying to stay in business as best as they can, but I think when you’re try ing to make money, you can never be fully transparent.”

The VCU announcement from Aug. 9 stated that mitigation strategies such as masking and vaccination will be effec tive, and the university will continue to monitor the prevalence of COVID-19 in the community to determine public health policies.

Members of the VCU community can receive the latest information on VCU’s COVID-19 response from One