San Antonio's private universities to require masks; UTSA, Alamo Colleges go virtual
For many San Antonio college students, the worsening delta variant surge means the beginning of the fall semester will look a lot like last year’s.
At the four private universities — Trinity University, Our Lady of the Lake University, St. Mary’s University, and University of the Incarnate Word — students again will be required to wear masks, regardless of their vaccination status. It’s a tool public colleges cannot employ under Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order prohibiting public entities from mandating masks. But classes and other on-campus activities will be held in person.
Meanwhile, the Alamo Colleges District and the University of Texas at San Antonio recently announced they will begin their fall semesters with mostly virtual instruction and require students and staff to get tested for COVID-19. Alamo Colleges will require weekly testing, but for now UTSA will require students to get tested before moving into campus housing.
These changes all came in the past two weeks, as the highly contagious delta variant of COVID-19 continues to drive up case numbers and hospitalizations in San Antonio. As of Aug. 12, the weekly case average exceeded 1,300, and 1,267 people were hospitalized.
Read more: https://sanantonioreport.org/private-universities-mask-mandates/