UND to keep mask policy on the books

UND’s mask mandate remains intact and President Andy Armacost says there is no specific date for dropping the policy.

Armacost told a town hall forum of faculty and staff that he’s well aware that there is no masking policy in the county and that the Grand Forks school district will make masks optional next week.  “That’s driven largely by difficulty in keeping children compliant.  Teachers are spending a lot of time handling that so they made a calculated judgement.  We fortunately have adult students here who when we ask them to wear masks hopefully they have the wherewithal to say we will do it.”

While the efficacy of some masks have been called into question UND Medical School Dean Joshua Wynne says something is better than nothing.  “I continue to evaluate risk-benefit ratios.  The risk here is close to zero…the benefit is not completely certain…but probably at least moderate.”

The latest UND COVID-19 Dashboard suggests the number of student positives in January are running at a 14 month high.

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UND officials say they also have a good supply of masks on hand and just recently ordered another 100,000 for distribution on campus.