Wearing masks significantly protects both the person who's wearing them and the people around them. There are many benefits to wearing a mask, one being it helps protect against many viruses. We are seeing an increase in respiratory viruses many of which have recently started circulating the past year. In the midst of flu season, the many different variants of Covid 19 surfacing puts a lot of students at risk of illness daily.

Requiring students to wear a mask in an active classroom will help decrease the number of symptomatic and asymptomatic respiratory illnesses being transmitted. This will help keep more students attending classes avoid sicknesses by decreasing transmission if there are positive cases. Nevertheless, it will also protect faculty and staff from transmitting viruses to family and friends.

With an institution, there is much difficulty making up any assignments missed due to sicknesses. With that said, many students have concerns and complaints regarding their safety when attending classes. Although masks are provided for all students there is no requirement to wear them in the classrooms. People have lives outside of the classrooms, individuals who practice cleanliness and social distancing outside of the classroom should not have the worry about those who surround them in the classroom. At this time it is a luxury to meet in person and receive an education. Many students would like to continue receiving education in person. Although face coverings are not be required on campus where physical distancing can be maintained many of the classrooms and classroom sizes don’t allow for proper distancing. Also, not all lab instructors required face coverings during lab classes or within the clinical setting. With that said, students have addressed the need for there to be a layer of safety while attempting to learn in the classrooms during this pandemic. I hope this request of the University from students is met and addressed. Thanking you in advance