SEARK board authorizes mask mandate

Southeast Arkansas College will require the use of face coverings in indoor public settings, regardless of whether one has been vaccinated, beginning with the first day of the fall semester on Aug. 23.

The school’s board voted unanimously to allow President Steven Bloomberg to enact a mask mandate during a brief emergency meeting Friday morning. SEARK is following other Arkansas institutions of higher learning in implementing mask rules, in light of the Aug. 6 injunction of recently passed legislation that banned state-supported school districts, colleges, universities and many other public entities from doing such.

Bloomberg said he wanted to implement the mandate based on the number of covid-19 cases in Jefferson County. As of Thursday in the county, there were 599 active cases and 193 covid-19 related deaths — increases of 37 cases and one death since Monday — and 10,109 recoveries out of 10,903 total positive cases since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

Arkansas’ covid-19 cases have taken a steep climb in the past two months to daily averages not seen since January of this year. As of Thursday, there have been eight days in which the state reported 2,000 or more new cases, last reporting fewer than 1,000 on Monday.

“After looking at where we believe the trends are going, watching the University of Arkansas System pass a face-covering mandate, and I believe the Arkansas State University System has followed suit, we believe at this juncture it’s at the best interest of Southeast Arkansas College to mandate face coverings at our facilities indoors throughout the fall semester,” Bloomberg said.

The U of A System, which includes universities in Pine Bluff and Monticello, announced Wednesday that masks will be required indoors in all university facilities, including classrooms, when at least 6 feet of social distancing cannot be maintained, regardless of one’s vaccination status.

According to a resolution the SEARK board voted in favor of Friday, the college will “implement face covering policies for students, faculty, staff and guests, regardless of vaccination status, in indoor public settings where physical distancing cannot be assured in accordance with CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidance regarding the covid-19 delta variant.”

The policies will include “reasonable exceptions for certain settings and activities that follow guidance established by public health agencies and/ or by external governing bodies.”

The board will review its mask mandate during its September meeting.