PROVIDENCE – Providence College, as of 5 p.m. Wednesday, will make mask wearing optional indoors on campus.
PC, as did many local colleges, required students to wear masks indoors on campus since the beginning of the fall semester regardless of vaccination status. Now, PC is giving students, faculty and staff the option to wear masks indoors on campus, with two exceptions.
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The college said one exception will be in classrooms where instructors may continue to require masks if they wish. The other exception, PC said, is in medical and clinical settings where masks are required by public health guidelines.
College President Rev. Kenneth R. Sicard cited that improving conditions with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the case rate among faculty, staff and students has declined “significantly.” PC also said about 97% of its campus community completed the original two-dose vaccination process and 78% of those currently eligible have received booster shots.
PC spokesperson Carolyn Cronin in an email Wednesday to Providence Business News said that faculty teaches indoors for extended periods and are in close contact with dozens of students each day and week. PC believes giving faculty a choice to mandate masks is best because the professors are in the best position to decide what protocols make sense for their respective classrooms, Cronin said. However, PC did not make clear how it will handle any potential resistance from students not wearing masks per a faculty member’s request arises.
Cronin also said PC has not seen any evidence of widespread symptomatic cases from the high student attendance at some recent PC men’s basketball games at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center – including Tuesday’s game with Villanova University. The Dunkin’ Donuts Center and the R.I. Convention Center, both operated by the quasi-state R.I. Convention Center Authority, no longer requires masks to be worn inside for events after the statewide mask mandate was lifted on Feb. 11.
With PCs’ population being highly vaccinated, Cronin said the college no longer uses surveillance testing and, as a result, PC is unsure how many asymptomatic cases there might be. “As we transition to living more effectively with this virus, we are moving toward a stronger focus on symptomatic cases,” she said.
PC also said other protocols, such as vaccination requirements and testing for unvaccinated individuals, remain in effect on the campus. PC now joins Roger Williams University and Bryant University as being among the few Rhode Island-based colleges that have modified their on-campus mask requirements.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
(Story updated with comments from Providence College spokesperson Carolyn Cronin)
