A message from Vivek Goel, President and Vice-Chancellor and James W. E. Rush, Vice-President, Academic & Provost
As
you
are
aware,
on
March
22,
the
province
lifted
its
mandatory
masking
requirement
in
most
settings,
with
the
remaining
requirements
in
high-risk
settings
like
health
care
ending
on
June
11.
The
Region
of
Waterloo
also
lifted
its
requirements
for
masking
on
public
transportation
and
at
customer
service
centres
on
June
11,
in
alignment
with
the
province’s
announcement.
On
April
14,
in
consultation
with
public
health
advisors
and
other
post-secondary
institutions,
we
announced
that
we
would
extend
our
campus
mask
requirement
to
create
a
transition
period
past
the
end
of
the
winter
term
and
through
the
in-person
Spring
convocation
ceremonies
to
minimize
potential
operational
disruption
under
the
circumstances
at
the
time. We
committed
to
revaluating
the
requirement
after
convocation.
Today,
we’re
making
the
decision
to
suspend
our
mask
requirement
after
June
30. In
addition
to
the
lifting
of
provincial
and
municipal
mask
requirements
noted
above, this
decision is
also
consistent
with a
variety
of
indicators
including
campus
data,
case
counts,
test
positivity
rates,
local
hospitalization
and
wastewater
data,
and consulting
public
health
guidance.
Though
the
trends
right
now
allow
us
to
remove
the
requirement
for
everyone
to
wear
a
mask,
we
encourage
you
to
continue
to
wear a
tight-fitting,
well-constructed
mask
if
you
feel
it
is
the
right
choice
for
you,
in
any
setting.
We
particularly
encourage
you
to
consider
continuing
to
wear
a
mask
in
large
gatherings
like
classrooms
or
at
exams.
We’ve
all
seen
the
value
of
wearing
a
mask
to
help
limit
the
spread
of
a
variety
of
diseases
from
COVID-19
to
the
common
cold.
Wearing
a
mask
is
a
good
way
to
show
you
are
being
considerate
of
the
people
around
you.
Please
respect
the
choices
of
others
in
our
community
who
may
wish
to
continue
to
wear
a
mask.
Physical
distancing
or
capacity
limits
are
not
required
under
current
public
health
guidance.
As
always,
we’ll
keep
this
decision
under
careful
review,
and
we
may
choose
to
bring
back
a
requirement
to
wear
a
mask
to
come
to
our
campuses
if
public
health
conditions
change.
Of
course,
if
you
have
symptoms
of
COVID-19
or
think
you
were
exposed
to
the
virus,
you
should
do
the Ontario
self-assessment to
get
advice
on
what
to
do
and
whether
you
should
stay
home.