Three Massachusetts colleges are extending their COVID-19 mask mandate — and a fourth is putting it to a vote — even as masking requirements are disappearing around the nation.
Mount Holyoke College, Smith College and Hampshire College have all extended their mask mandates indefinitely, according to releases made in the past month.
“I am sorry to say that because of the relatively high confirmed COVID-19 case counts on campus (approximately 50 per week since the start of the semester) we will need to continue our indoor mask mandate until further notice,” Mt. Holyoke’s president, Beverly Daniel Tatum, said in an open letter last week.
“It is clear that the current levels of infection have taxed our campus health care system and residential services to the limit.”