The university announced that IU will be mask optional beginning March 4. This decision came with the overall decline of COVID-19 cases in both the state and university.
For the week of February 17 to February 23, the university recorded 36 total cases, with the majority of those being recorded on the IU Bloomington campus where there were 22 in total. In addition to low positive case numbers, 91.3% of individuals on all IU campuses reported their COVID-19 vaccinations.
The City of Bloomington website states that its mask mandate “is effective until Monroe County has fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 AND is in the blue advisory status.” As of February 21, has recorded 175 positive cases per 100,000. IU Chief Health Officer Dr. Aaron Carroll says that at this point masks won’t make a marginal difference in the current state of COVID-19 numbers.
IU Chief Health Officer Dr. Aaron Carroll answers questions on IU’s decision to make an optional mask policy.
Rachel Cambron is a recent IU graduate but they still work on campus for events. Rachel will soon be on a kidney transplant list. They said they’re scared that if they receive a kidney and masks are optional, they will have to be put on more immunosuppressants. Rachel is in favor of the university keeping the mask mandate in place and says they feel somewhat overlooked by the new policy.
“I understand that I’m fully vaccinated and the majority of people are not immunocompromised, but I don’t know, just going through the pandemic it just seems that people kind of don’t care about disabled and chronically ill people,” Rachel said.
The new decision resulted in mixed reactions from students on the IU Bloomington campus. IU junior Kyle Reynolds is happy to have the opportunity to choose whether or not to mask up.
“It seemed like an overreach of the university’s power to tell every student and faculty member that if you wanna attend this university you have to remain masked at all times,” Kyle said.
Currently the CDC lists Monroe county as high risk for spread. Even though Kyle said he is happy that the mandate will be lifted, he said he’s confused as to how the university came to the decision considering there is still high risk in Monroe county.
IU junior Kyle Reynolds explains that he is confused about the new masking policy.
The pandemic affected in-person events such as IUDM and Little 500 in the past 2 years. The IU Dance Marathon was finally in-person in the fall of 2021 and the 2022 Little 500 races are planned to allow attendees. Freshman Karis Balmer emphasized that masks are important to being able to hold events in person rather than virtually. Karis says she cares about a mask mandate because she can protect herself, her family and her immunocompromised friends.
“To me it feels like the new policy is not prioritizing “the student experience,” a message President Whitten emphasized at her inauguration, and is catering to short term experiences,” Karis said.
IU freshman Karis Balmer speaks about masking at events.
The new policy brought up concerns about the upcoming spring break, which begins March 12, just 8 days after the mask mandate is lifted. Dr. Aaron Carroll said that the university hasn’t seen large increases in positive cases following breaks in the past.
Dr. Aaron Carroll said that the new policy could be reconsidered if the university sees a substantial increase in positive cases that warrants reinstating a mask mandate. The current testing and contact tracing procedures will stay in place and the university will continue to recommend that if you are sick, stay home.
