Face masks will be required indoors at the University of St. Thomas starting Monday, the school announced Thursday.
The order applies to shared spaces when other people around, including classrooms, dorm common areas and campus shuttles. However, fully vaccinated people can remove their masks while exercising at the gym or rec center or while teaching or public speaking if they can stay 6 feet away from their audience.
“The recent surge of the COVID-19 delta variant in Minnesota unfortunately means campus life cannot be quite as normal as hoped,” the school’s action and response team wrote in a message to students, faculty and staff.
The move follows the school’s Aug. 2 decision to require everyone to get vaccinated against the coronavirus before returning to campus this fall, although exemptions are being granted for medical, religious and conscientious reasons. So far, the campus vaccination rate is 83 percent.
The mask order could be lifted later in the semester if conditions improve.
The resurgence of the coronavirus in Minnesota, spurred by the more contagious delta variant, has made mask orders commonplace. Other colleges starting the fall semester with a mask mandate include Macalester College, Hamline University, St. Catherine University, the University of Minnesota and all colleges and universities in the Minnesota State system.
Bethel University said this week it will require masks only in classrooms and labs if 6 feet of distancing can’t be maintained.