Ball State University is dropping its face mask mandate for people fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
This allows fully vaccinated students, faculty, and staff go without face masks inside campus buildings and classrooms for the first time since a statewide mask mandate was issued last year. The university had the last remaining blanket mask mandate in Delaware County.
In a campus-wide email, Ball State President Geoffrey Mearns says the decision is consistent with recent guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Because of a recent state law, Ball State cannot require proof that a person has been vaccinated. The school has encouraged staff to voluntarily do so by offering monetary incentives to turn in a vaccination card. And Mearns says he “anticipates” more incentives for students.
In other changes, fully vaccinated people at Ball State won’t have to physically distance from others. They also won’t have to quarantine if they come in contact with a person who’s tested positive for COVID. Fully vaccinated students won’t have to provide a negative COVID-19 test to come back to campus in August.
