Barnard Reinstates Indoor Mask Mandate Amid Rise In COVID-19 Infections

Upper West Side NY

11 April, 2022

3:54 PM

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By Esha Karam, Columbia Daily Spectator • April 7, 2022, 3:25 PM Barnard has reinstated its indoor mask mandate in dining halls, classrooms, libraries, study spaces, and at gatherings or college-sponsored events, administrators announced in an email to the community on Wednesday. The college will re-evaluate the requirement in two weeks, while Columbia continues its current mask-optional policy. A rise in infections among students has prompted the new restrictions. In the week of April 4 to 10, 30 out of 680 tests conducted within the Barnard surveillance program were positive, for a positivity rate of 4.49 percent. The email also cites a rise in positive self-administered home antigen tests, which are not included in the surveillance testing data. The rise of the BA.2 subvariant of the omicron variant, now the dominant strain in the United States, has led to an increase in cases in New York City. While case numbers currently remain far below levels during January's spike in omicron cases, positivity rates have been on the rise in recent weeks. In fact, Manhattan has seen as high as a 6 percent positivity rate in some neighborhoods. Barnard officially ended its indoor mask mandate on March 28, two weeks later than Columbia, though some students and professors still chose to wear masks around both campuses. At Barnard, faculty were allowed to dictate mask guidelines within their own classrooms. [Read more: After Columbia's dropped mask mandate, some classes choose to keep masks on] Barnard will continue to mandate surveillance testing, with residential students testing every other week. No changes have been made to Columbia's COVID-19 policies. "We are monitoring public health data closely and constantly re-evaluate our policies to reflect current circumstances. We continue to be in low risk/green at this time," a University spokesperson wrote in a statement to Spectator. Staff writer Esha Karam can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow Spectator on Twitter @ColumbiaSpec. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.