By Ana Ruiz Brictson | Staff Writer
On Thursday, President Linda Livingstone sent out her weekly Presidential Perspective email with an update on Baylor’s COVID-19 protocols for the semester.
“While Baylor remains in ‘good shape’ and we are starting to see signs of improvement locally, we will continue with our current approach of face masks in academic classrooms and labs and twice-weekly testing of unvaccinated individuals through Oct. 15 as we monitor any potential impact from Family Weekend activities,” Livingstone said in the email.
According to Lori Fogleman — assistant vice president of Media and Public Relations — the evaluation process for Baylor’s COVID-19 protocols is undertaken by the university’s Health Management Team, which is “a diverse set of medical, public health, student life and legal professionals, among many others.”
“The university’s Health Management Team … reviews each day the latest COVID-19 research and models, as well as current university and local conditions, including positives cases, hospitalizations, strain on local healthcare resources and vaccination rates, and factors these into recommendations for adjusting protocols,” Fogleman said in an email. “Those recommendations are then sent to the President’s Council for their consideration.”
In her email, Livingstone said that if conditions continue to improve in the community, there may be an opportunity to change the testing policy for unvaccinated students from twice-weekly to weekly. She also said that the university expects masks to be required in classrooms and labs for the remainder of the semester.
“I think President Livingstone is doing the best of her abilities, but some things are not adding up,” Trenton, N.J., senior Brett Morrow said. “I don’t think it’s wrong the mandates are changing because they are protecting the people who do still want to wear a mask, but those who don’t want to feel like it’s pointless.”
In her email, Livingstone said the Health Management Team will continue to analyze COVID-19 statistics at Baylor and in Waco, and there will be more updates throughout the semester regarding testing and masks.
