University Of Colorado To Lift Mask Mandate Amid COVID Decline

BOULDER, CO — The University of Colorado's Boulder campus is dropping its mask mandate.

In a letter to the community Monday morning, university officials said the CU Boulder campus will become mask-optional at 6 a.m. on Monday, March 7. The letter was signed by Russell Moore and Patrick O’Rourke, the university's provost and chief operating officer, respectively.

Until March 7, masks remain required in all public indoor spaces, classrooms and laboratories, the letter said. Masks will also continue to be required after March 7 at the Wardenburg Health Center.

The move comes amid falling COVID-19 cases nationwide and in Colorado. It also comes amid ample accessibility to vaccines, booster shots and treatments. About 90 percent of Coloradans are immune to infection by the omicron variant through either vaccination, previous infection or both, the university said, citing the latest modeling. On Friday, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its mask guidance in which Boulder County was no longer classified as an area where it recommended mask-wearing.

Boulder County's two public health orders requiring masks in public indoor spaces and in schools expired Feb. 18.

The university said it's moving into a new phase, in which its operations become more akin to how they were before the pandemic. COVID-19 will become an "aspect of life that we must manage on an ongoing basis, rather than the disease managing us," the university said.

Officials warned that even as CU goes mask-optional, the campus cannot completely let its guard down. Its booster reporting requirement remains in place, and both testing and vaccines will continue to be provided, as will contact tracing and case investigation protocols. Additionally, KN95 and surgical masks will remain available at five distribution sites, and the university plans to continue its enhanced cleaning and ventilating in buildings.