Updated Aug. 25, 2021 at 10:47 a.m. to include information regarding the number of COVID-19 cases on campus.
Elon University announced Aug. 25 an extended indoor mask requirement on campus until the high transmission rates in Alamance and Guilford County decrease. The announcement states that all students, faculty, staff and visitors — including class of 2020 graduates traveling back to campus for Commencement Sept. 5 — will be required to wear masks in all indoor spaces, regardless of vaccination status. The decision comes just one week before the mask mandate was expected to be lifted on Aug 31.
The university did not comment past the statement released this morning, but a university spokesperson said the weekly campus update will be emailed to the community as scheduled. On campus, seven new cases among faculty and students have been confirmed as of Aug. 25, 2021, and 355 on-campus tests have been administered from Aug. 16 to Aug. 22. According to the Healthy Elon Dashboard, 83 new cases in Alamance County have been confirmed from Aug. 16 to Aug. 22.
Class of 2020 graduates will also now have Commencement outdoors, Under the Oaks, due to the large number of visitors without verified vaccination status.