Students walk down East Lemon Mall outside the Sun Devil Fitness Complex on the ASU Tempe campus on Monday, Sept. 27, 2021. Alex Goul
Some students opted to keep their mask on, others were relieved to take it off. But few ASU students have missed the Daily Health Check
ASU students returning from spring break were greeted with a new optional mask policy and no daily health checks, exciting some community members and leaving others nervous to get back to the classroom.
The policy change was announced last Thursday in an email from University Provost Nancy Gonzales and Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer Morgan Olsen. It said masks would be optional on campus with the exception of “designated courses with select required activities, on intercampus shuttles and in healthcare settings.”
Prior to the update, masks had been required inside most ASU buildings since August 2021.
Some students on campus said they were more than ready to lose their masks in classrooms and other buildings on campus given the recent decline in cases in Maricopa County. ASU’s policy change came a few weeks after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced more lenient guidelines on mask-wearing in low- or medium-risk counties.
Sophomore finance student Cooper Ashton said the change was needed and overdue, given that other universities had already dropped their mask mandates earlier on in the semester.
“I’m vaccinated and I wear masks when it’s asked of me, but I feel like we’re past that point in all of this,” Ashton said. “People who’ve gotten vaccinated are going to get vaccinated, people who haven’t probably aren’t going to, and it’s not going to go away. So we just have to learn to live with it.”
NAU made masks optional on March 7. UA President Robert C. Robbins announced the school would relax its mask mandate on March 21, recommending, but not requiring, masks in most indoor spaces, including classrooms.
