By Scott Edger
Little Apple Post
While the Manhattan-Ogden School District has decided to step out and lifts its mask mandate for Manhattan High School, Kansas State University is making decisions in line with official protocol from the Center for Disease Control and no changes to its mask policy will be made at this time.
Michelle Geering, K-State public information officer, said that “the university’s temporary mask requirement will remain in effect until the CDC-tracked local transmission rates decline for a period of time.”
The K-State temporary mask policy states that everyone must wear masks in all indoor spaces on university property unless alone in their own private offices or workspaces.
K-State's mask policy states that transmission status of the host county must not be in the High or Substantial category cy the Centers for Disease Control before the mask mandate would be rescinded. Currently, according to the CDC, “everyone in Riley County, Kansas should wear a mask in public, indoor settings” and the Covid Data Tracker shows Riley County’s current transmission status as Substantial.
However, the data also shows the county’s positive rate over just the last seven days has fallen by nearly 1.5 percent, and hospital admissions are down by more than a third.
The CDC COVID Data Tracker can be found at covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home
By Scott Edger
Little Apple Post
While the Manhattan-Ogden School District Michelle Geering, K-State public information officer, said that “the university’s temporary mask requirement will remain in effect until the CDC-tracked local transmission rates decline for a period of time.”
The K-State temporary mask policy states that everyone must wear masks in all indoor spaces on university property unless alone in their own private offices or workspaces.
K-State's mask policy states that transmission status of the host county must not be in the High or Substantial category cy the Centers for Disease Control before the mask mandate would be rescinded. Currently, according to the CDC, “everyone in Riley County, Kansas should wear a mask in public, indoor settings” and the Covid Data Tracker shows Riley County’s current transmission status as Substantial.
However, the data also shows the county’s positive rate over just the last seven days has fallen by nearly 1.5 percent, and hospital admissions are down by more than a third.
K-State is currently in the Phaseout stage of its reopening after the pandemic shutdowns.
To meet this stage, the institution established specific criteria, including the widespread availability of an effective vaccine, a significant reduction in local infections, verifying adequate responses are in place for spikes and clusters, and ensuring area health care systems are not being taxed beyond their capacity.
The CDC COVID Data Tracker can be found at covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home