In an email sent out to the Colorado State community on Aug. 11, CSU President Joyce McConnell announced changes to mask and vaccine requirements effective immediately for Fall 2021.

Because of the rising prevalence of the Delta variant, CSU will be mandating vaccines, screening and masks, effective immediately. This also comes in response to push back from faculty and staff who felt a mask mandate was the best approach to feeling safer on campus.

According to the email from the university, all students, faculty and staff are required to either submit their vaccination status or an exemption declaration by Wednesday, Aug. 18. For anyone who is unvaccinated, CSU is mandating weekly screenings twice a week beginning Monday, Aug. 16. This also applies to anyone who chose to declare an exemption. Those screenings are currently required indefinitely, instead of ending by September as per the previous announcement from the university.

Anyone who chooses to not comply with the vaccine or mask mandates will be addressed through the protocols of Colorado State that are currently in place. This goes for all students, as well as faculty and staff.

As far as the mask mandate, masks are required in all university buildings, regardless of vaccination status. Students in university housing must wear a mask unless they are in their own room or apartment. Faculty and staff also face the requirements, and are only allowed to go mask-free if they are alone in their own office.

Masks are still required in any university vehicle or mode of transportation.

In the announcement, McConnell spoke on everything that went into the decision making process and why the university feels this is a necessary change.

It is our strong belief that these measures are necessary to protect each other and to allow us to be together this fall in classrooms and other university spaces as we begin our academic year. [...] We will, of course, recalibrate requirements when public health data indicates it is time to do so.

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