• Duquesne mandates masks for all students, employees and visitors,
Move is temporary, school leaders explain in message to school
Duquesne University is imposing a mask mandate for all students, faculty, staff and others on campus — effective Friday, vaccinated or not — as a precaution against COVID-19 infections with students about to arrive for fall semester.
A message Wednesday delivered to the campus with 8,800 students calls the move temporary.
“The University is announcing a temporary requirement that all individuals on campus, regardless of vaccination status, wear a face covering when indoors, both in public spaces and when they are in groups,” the statement read.
The mandate will remain in place through student move-in, orientation and the first week of classes. “By Labor Day weekend, the University will evaluate whether the temporary requirement remains necessary,” the statement read.
Classes begin Aug. 23 on Duquesne’s campus, located on The Bluff.
“Fully vaccinated students, faculty, and staff who are alone and not in a public or shared space may unmask,” the statement explained. “When dining in shared spaces, individuals should remain masked until they begin to eat or drink and
put masks back on when they are finished with their meal. Masks will not be required outdoors.”
Duquesne is among hundreds of campuses, most of them private, that have instituted student vaccination mandates, with exceptions for those based on medical or religious reasons. It is urging all employees to get the shot. Rising infections nationally driven by the delta variant — and mostly affecting unvaccinated individuals — have university officials concerned.
At Duquesne, like other schools with vaccination requirements, students are required to upload their proof of vaccination or their exemption onto a confidential system.
“Those who are not recorded in the system as vaccinated will be required to wear a mask indoors and to participate in weekly COVID testing as a measure to ensure the safety of our entire Duquesne community,” the statement read.