By Ana Ruiz Brictson | Staff Writer
As of Jan. 31, all Baylor students, faculty and staff will no longer be required to test on a weekly basis, regardless of vaccination status.
The Baylor community received an update on the university’s COVID-19 policies from President Linda Livingstone on Monday morning. This email announced testing would now be optional for all individuals and masks will continue to be worn in all classrooms and labs that are being used for academic instruction.
According to Livingstone, one of the reasons why her team was able to adjust the policies was because of the high vaccination rate the Baylor community has achieved. As of Jan. 31, Baylor records that 80.1% of students and 92.9% of employees are vaccinated.
Additionally, students, staff and faculty are asked to continue monitoring daily symptoms and set up appointments at the Health Center in McLane Student Life Center if showing signs of COVID-19. Face coverings are still encouraged to be used in all indoor spaces on and off campus.
“While this semester began with several days of high case counts, those cases have generally been mild and short-lived, allowing us to manage the campus health environment effectively,” Livingstone said in an email.
Kennesaw, Ga., freshman Elle Jansick said after doing her own research, she believes both unvaccinated and vaccinated students can transmit the virus, making the decision for optional weekly testing a fair one.
“I think that we’re in a free country, and one thing that’s awesome about America is that we get to make our own decisions,” Jansick said.
Livingstone also wrote her team will be consulting the Health Management Team, Faculty Senate, academic leadership and other groups through the next two weeks and will make decisions on any future changes regarding face covering policies.
“While we are prayerful we are moving to this next stage of the virus that can be managed effectively with these updated interim policies and protocols, we also continue to closely examine conditions both locally and nationally,” Livingstone said.
Jansick also commented on mask requirements, emphasizing her belief in personal decisions.
“I feel if you are more comfortable wearing a mask, that’s awesome, wear a mask. If you don’t want to wear one, I think that should be up to you,” Jansick said.
Houston senior Chase Collins said it feels good to begin to go back to a sense of normalcy.
“We’ve been dealing with this since 2019, which has basically been my entire college career, so it’s good to kind of finally feel like we’re getting back to normal,” Collins said.
