UB will continue to require mask wearing on its campuses, the university announced in a campus-wide email Friday.
The email came after Gov. Kathy Hochul let New York’s statewide indoor mask mandate expire on Wednesday, citing declining infections and hospitalizations. Hochul had previously reinstated the mandate on Dec. 10 to curb rising omicron infection rates and called for New Yorkers to wear a mask in all indoor public places, according to ABC.
“UB has always said it would make changes to our guidelines in response to the course of the pandemic, and based on scientific evidence, the expertise of our faculty, and state and SUNY requirements,” university spokesperson John DellaContrada said in an email to The Spectrum. “What was described in [the] UBForward [announcement] is nothing new.”
The university did lift a requirement that UB-sponsored events only serve “grab-and-go” food, which will allow normal food service to resume, according to the UBForward release.
Sophie McNally is an assistant sports editor and can be reached at sophie.mcnally@ubspectrum.com
Grant Ashley is a senior news/features editor and can be reached at grant.ashley@ubspectrum.com
Grant Ashley is the editor in chief of The Spectrum. He's also reported for NPR, WBFO, WIVB and The Buffalo News. He enjoys taking long bike rides, baking with his parents’ ingredients and recreating Bob Ross paintings in crayon. He can be found on the platform formerly known as Twitter at @Grantrashley.
Sophie McNally is an assistant sports editor at The Spectrum. She is a history major studying abroad for a year from Newcastle University in the UK. In her spare time, she can be found blasting The 1975 or Taylor Swift and rowing on a random river at 5 a.m.
