Atlanta College Reinstitutes Mask Mandate Following COVID-19 Variant Scare
![Morris Brown College reinstituted its mask mandate following “reports of positive [COVID-19] cases among students in the Atlanta University Center.”](https://blogger.tpusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/143182357_b7f86e27a8_c.jpg)
A private liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia reinstituted its mask and social distancing mandates after learning of “reports of positive [COVID-19] cases among students in the Atlanta University Center.”
Sunday, Morris Brown College announced to faculty and students that the mask mandate would be going into effect immediately, after just one week after the semester began. The official communication stated that no large gatherings would be permitted on campus for 14 days. Morris Brown College is within the Atlanta University Center Consortium, which “comprises several historically Black colleges and universities located on the western side of the city,” according to the Post Millennial.
School representatives indicated that there have not yet been any confirmed cases of COVID-19 among students at the college; however, Morris Brown College President Kevin James considers the “safety measures” against COVID-19 “precautionary steps.”
The school will also be contact tracing and checking temperatures upon campus arrival in addition to mandating all individuals on campus wear a face mask. Morris Brown College currently has a COVID-19 vaccination requirement for students but allows for religious and medical exemptions on a case-by-case basis.
Since 2020 began, public health officials have begun to prepare “for the next pandemic” as they monitor each case under a microscope and meticulously report each new strain or variant. Headlines like, “Do I need to worry about COVID again?” and “New COVID variants EG.5, FL.1.5.1, and BA.2.86 are spreading,” dominate the front page, and gin up new panic surrounding the virus that first came about three years ago.
Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna addressed rising concerns regarding the potential for mask mandates to be reinstated on airlines and other forms of public transit, announcing on X that her office “will be reaching out to TSA” (the Transportation Security Administration) for clarity.
