The University of Minnesota announced Monday that all students, faculty, staff, and visitors will be required to wear face masks indoors regardless of vaccination status.
The mandate applies to all University of Minnesota buildings statewide and takes effect Tuesday.
“The delta variant of the COVID-19 virus appears to be much more easily transmitted, resulting in new CDC guidance on masking announced [last] week,” President Joan Gabel said in a campus-wide email.
That guidance said all people in K-12 schools and in counties with “high or substantial” transmission should wear masks. But the University of Minnesota has decided to apply its mandate to “all of our campuses and offices statewide, whether a given location is in a substantial or high transmission county or not.”
“Please note that vaccines are highly effective against the Delta variant,” Gabel added.
Minnesota State plans to require masks for campuses that are in counties with high or substantial transmission.
Target also announced Monday that employees in high-transmission areas will be required to wear masks.
Gov. Tim Walz encouraged all school districts last week to require students and teachers to wear masks during the upcoming school year.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
