The vast majority, with very few exceptions, of Rutgers University Newark students were required to be vaccinated for Covid-19 in order to attend the fall semester of 2021. Now that everyone is back on campus, safely vaccinated, why is it still mandated for students to wear masks?

According to a CDC study published in August of 2021, vaccinated individuals are 6x less likely to contract Covid-19, 4x less likely to be hospitalized following a Covid-19 infection, 3x less likely to be brought to the ICU, and 3x less likely to die from Covid-19 complications.

This is not a mask hater or anti-mask petition at all. I understand that there are students and staff that wish to continue to wear masks to stay safe, and they are well within their rights to do so, especially if they are part of a high risk demographic. But it should be just that, a personal choice that an individual should decide based on their judgements, especially now that a very high percentage of students are vaccinated.

I think I speak for most students when I say that we just want to return to life as usual, to be able to fully interact with each other and access the universities amenities without being uncomfortable. For the past two semesters we have suffered through online classes and little to no interaction with other students, I think we deserve a break.

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7034e5.htm?s_cid=mm7034e5_w#F1_down