CUNY has attracted mixed reactions after becoming one of the latest institutions to lift its mask mandate on March 7 in a premature decision that will likely put students at risk of getting infected. In an email dated March 4, the institution’s Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez gave the directive following policy changes and new guidelines by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention advocating for lifting mask mandates in state schools.
However, this decision has dealt a major blow to the fight against Covid-19 and all the achievements made. The state has not significantly improved the daily infection rate based on the infection curve. Lifting mask mandates risk increasing the rate of infection significantly thus affecting the progress made in combating the virus.
This move is also likely to increase tension in institutions such as Baruch College. Students will tend to limit their interaction with their counterparts who are not wearing masks for fear of getting the virus. Medical experts have occasionally cited the effective role that masks have played in the fight to curb the spread of the coronavirus in public places.
Lisa Maragakis, a professor of medicine at The Johns Hopkins Health System and an expert in infection prevention, acknowledges the effectiveness of wearing masks in preventing the spread of the coronavirus in crowded places. Mrs. Maragakis argues that masks tend to trap the virus’s droplets that would otherwise be inhaled, thus protecting one from being infected while in a crowded environment.
From my personal standpoint, it’s a risky move and would be better if the decision was delayed until the situation was taken under control to prevent another wave of infection.