Both the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University will require all students, faculty and staff to wear face masks in campus buildings in the fall to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
The Texas Tribune reports that A&M's flagship campus in College Station released its mandatory face mask policy after a similar UT-Austin policy announced earlier this week.
A&M president Michael Young says face masks will be required indoors in all non-private offices and residential spaces, as well as outdoors where physical distancing was difficult. It is unclear how A&M will enforce the policy.
An email to the UT community announced similar measures for the Austin campus. Interim Dean Jay Hartzell says students and faculty will be allowed to remove their face coverings in a campus building if they are alone in a private office or in their residence hall room. Masks will be encouraged in outdoor areas of campus, and enforcement measures will be announced later.
"This policy — which is currently in place for the summer — is consistent with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which makes clear that face coverings, in addition to social distancing measures, are among the most effective strategies in limiting the spread of COVID-19, particularly in high-density areas," Hartzell said in the email.
Both UT-Austin and A&M are in the process of navigating strategies to mitigate Covid-19 spread for the fall semester. Last week, Hartzell announced that more than 2,000 UT classes will be online. On-campus classes will run from August to Thanksgiving and then continue remotely in an effort to limit student travel.
Meanwhile, classrooms will be limited to 40% of their capacity, and classes will take place between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. to reduce the number of students on campus at any given time.
At A&M, some face-to-face classes will resume, but many will be conducted in a hybrid model mixing in-person and online instruction. Capacity in classrooms and meeting spaces will be sharply curtailed, and physical adjustments will be made, such as installing plexiglass separators or other distancing aids.
Residence halls will be open, but students will be expected to maintain social distancing and are discouraged from traveling away from campus.
