Classroom Mask Mandate Removed as California is Set to End State of Emergency

With most of the campus vaccinated and boosted, Santa Clara relaxes pandemic restrictions

In an Oct. 19 email, the Office of the Provost notified students that masks will no longer be required in classrooms beginning on Oct. 24. Professors, however, are able to require masks for the time being.

Some students agree with the university's decision to remove the classroom mask mandate as COVID-19 no longer poses such a risk.

“I think that people should have the choice of whether they wear a mask or not. For the most part, every student is vaccinated or has had COVID-19 once or twice,” said Carter Strauss, a junior finance major. “We need to start transitioning from the way we acted when we knew nothing about COVID-19 to what we know today.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday that California's coronavirus emergency will officially end in February, nearly three years after the state's first confirmed death from the disease prompted a raft of restrictions that upended public life.

The decision will have little practical impact for most Santa Clara students outside of the classroom, as most of the nearly 600 pandemic-related orders Newsom has issued since the start of the pandemic have already been lifted.

But it does signal a symbolic end for some of the most restrictive elements of the pandemic, as it will dissolve Newsom's authority to alter or change laws to make it easier for the government to quickly respond to the public health crisis.

"The State of Emergency was an effective and necessary tool that we utilized to protect our state, and we wouldn't have gotten to this point without it," Newsom said in a news release, adding that the declaration will formally end on Feb. 28.

Though the ending of the State of Emergency marks an important step in returning to normal life for the public, some remain concerned that Newsom’s decision ignores the constant threat of COVID-19.

“There’s a risk that it encourages even more people to relax their guard at a time when there are still a lot of COVID-19 cases in California – although less, for sure,” said Craig Stephens, a professor in the public health department.

The Newsom administration is waiting until February to end the emergency declaration, saying it wants to give state and local officials time to prepare. The administration could reverse the declaration, should a new variant of the disease emerge or hospitals again become overwhelmed with patients. The standards the administration set to address COVID, however, will work to prevent another crisis.

“I think we should see everything we've been through in this pandemic as an urgent call to invest much more deeply in community health, and strengthening all of our health systems so that we'll be ready for future threats as they occur,” Stephens said.

On November 3, SCU will host a COVID-19 booster vaccination clinic in the Williman Room in Benson Memorial Center to further protect the community from the virus. Community members must bring their SCU ID, state-issued ID, and vaccination card to the clinic.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.