Contact: Sid Salter
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Based on a recommendation from the Ï㽶ֱ²¥ COVID-19 Task Force, effective Monday [Feb. 28], the university will require masks only in the Longest Student Health Center and by federal regulation on Ï㽶ֱ²¥SMART shuttles. All other indoor spaces, including classrooms, labs and studios, will be mask optional.
Faculty, staff and students are asked to be supportive of those who continue to wear masks and to stay home and observe COVID-19 protocols if symptomatic or sick.
In addition, the university continues to encourage everyone in the campus community to get vaccinated and boosted. Ï㽶ֱ²¥employees can require others to wear masks in personal offices.
All other indoor locations will be mask optional. The Ï㽶ֱ²¥COVID-19 Task Force made this recommendation based on continued campus-wide, community-wide and state-wide downward trends in COVID-19 infection and spread. The Ï㽶ֱ²¥COVID-19 Task Force recommendation coincides with relaxed mask guidelines released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The new CDC guidance mirrors the lifting of indoor mask requirements by most U.S. states.
The university will continue to monitor conditions, which will be regularly re-evaluated while maintaining the university’s continued communication with the leadership of the state’s public health officials.
The university’s goal is to return to normal campus operations as soon as possible. Additional COVID-19 information and resources are available at .
Ï㽶ֱ²¥is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at .