Northern Arizona University will start to relax its face mask policy on campus, university President Rita Cheng announced Friday on Twitter.
The university will begin to make masks optional for vaccinated individuals in small group meetings such as shared office space, department meetings and gatherings outside of organized classes.
"One of the benefits of being vaccinated is being able to choose to be unmasked in these instances, getting us closer to our communal goal of returning to our pre-pandemic activities," Cheng said in her Friday tweets. "We will continue to watch CDC guidelines and update our policies accordingly."
Individuals should still wear masks in public indoor spaces at this time, including classrooms, libraries and other non-meeting locations, Cheng said. Unvaccinated individuals must wear a mask at all times in all venues, she added.
Arizona State University updatedits mask policy earlier this month. Under the update, fully vaccinated folks are no longer required to wear masks in outdoor spaces, though the university still recommends them in crowded outdoor spaces. Everyone is still required to wear masks inside ASU classrooms, labs and offices.
Meanwhile at the University of Arizona, masks are optional for vaccinated individuals in indoor and outdoor spaces except indoor classrooms, the university library, university public transportation, university-owned or affiliated health centers and the university's vaccination site. Non-vaccinated indoors are required to wear a face covering at all times unless they are alone in a single occupancy office or in an outdoor space where they can physically distance.
