Cal Poly lifts mask mandate for fully vaccinated students and staff — sort of

Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong announced Friday that the campus mask mandate would be lifted for those fully vaccinated against COVID-19 — but there’s a caveat.

Masks are still required for everyone in classrooms, labs, healthcare settings and in Mustang Shuttle vehicles, according to Armstrong’s campus-wide email on Friday.

Armstrong said he expects to share more information on Wednesday regarding masks in classrooms and labs.

The new policy was a quick shift from messaging earlier in the week.

On Tuesday, Armstrong said in a campus-wide email that the university would not be lifting its mask mandate despite the state and county doing so this week.

“Masks have been one of three key mitigations (including vaccinations, boosters and testing all non-vaccinated individuals) in our ability to slow the spread of coronavirus on campus,” Armstrong said in his Tuesday email.

Armstrong said the university consulted with its public health experts to come to the decision. The advisers include the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department and Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein.

“Given our very high vaccination and booster rate, combined with the very low rate of coronavirus illness on campus, our consultants believe that it is now safe and prudent to make this change, following the lead of both state and local public health agencies,” Armstrong said in the email.

Armstrong also announced that free N95 masks, and information on how to properly wear them, will now be available on campus starting Tuesday at the University Union, Recreation Center and Disability Resource Center.

Unvaccinated students must continue to wear a mask in all indoor spaces on campus and test every three days, Armstrong said.

Cal Poly’s asymptomatic test positivity rate was at 0.4% for the seven-day period that ended Monday, averaging three students testing positive per day.

“Every metric that we track suggests that we are on the downslope of the Omicron surge,” Armstrong said in Tuesday’s email.