Officials at Western Wyoming Community College, in Rock Springs, have announced the relaxation of a mask mandate that was put into place in August.
According to a statement from the school, Western’s Board of Trustees voted to relax the temporary face covering mandate at the Board meeting on October 19. The relaxation is effective as of October 20, 2021.
The new mandate will continue through the rest of the Fall semester and will reportedly be reevaluated by the Board prior to Spring semester 2022.
According to the announcement face coverings are required in the following spaces where social distancing cannot occur:
- Classrooms, including laboratories and clinicals
- College vehicles
- Small office spaces
- Theatre events and performances
- The Children’s Center where staff is not fully vaccinated.
Face coverings are strongly recommended for all other areas.
“Western continues to support vaccination, regular and ongoing testing, and isolation when symptoms or exposure occur,” officials said in the Wednesday statement. “The Board of Trustees weighed a number of factors when considering relaxing the mandate. Western’s campus COVID cases remain low. The Board empowered the institution to reinstate regular COVID testing for student-athletes and students living in the residence halls. The case data collected from these tests will help inform decision-making regarding COVID-19 in the future.”
“I trust that our Western Family will continue to make good decisions regarding health and safety. Our low campus COVID-19 cases demonstrate that we are willing to do what it takes. I look forward to seeing our students’ and colleagues’ smiles in the halls again,” stated Dr. Kim Dale, President of Western Wyoming Community College.
The Wyoming Department of Health provides COVID-19 case, variant, death, testing, hospital and vaccine data online. The department also shares information about how the data can be interpreted. COVID-19 safety recommendations are available from the CDC.
