The University of Arizona plans to lift its indoor mask mandate, effective Monday, March 21.

Students and faculty returned from spring break Monday, which is why the policy change won’t go into effect until next week.

“I believe that it’s prudent to see what level of infection is present among our university community before changing our protocol for the Tucson campus,” President Robert Robbins said at a virtual news conference Monday morning. “Following a week where the members of the campus community all have an opportunity to test, if we see new case counts align with the rest of Arizona and Pima County we will be well-positioned to relax our masking protocols.”

He urged everyone who comes to campus, especially those who traveled over spring break, to get a test — there are numerous free testing sites on campus — this week to help the UA accurately gauge its infection rate.

After next Monday, Robbins added, masks will be recommended but not required. Masks will still be required for passengers on university transit and in the campus’s various health care settings. Free surgical masks will still be available at various points across campus.

Masks will also be required for spectators at McKale Center during Saturday’s NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

“As these changes go into place, I want to again emphasize the vital importance of compassion for one another, especially for those who are most vulnerable to this still-deadly virus,” Robbins said. Addressing the whole campus community, he asked that if people ask others to wear a mask in an indoor space to “respect their needs and be mindful that others have varying levels of risk from COVID-19.”

Since reopening the school for mostly in-person learning last fall, the UA, which has about 40,000 students attending classes on its main campus in Tucson, has required all students and staff to wear face masks indoors when social distancing is not possible.

Robbins

The planned removal of the indoor mask requirement comes as the number of new COVID-19 cases in Pima County and Arizona continue to decline after the omicron surge in January.

During the last week in January, the UA reported an 11.5% of positivity rate among its campus population, with 237 positive cases out of 2,057 total tests. But the latest available numbers presented Monday by the UA, which account for the first 10 days in March, show a 1% positivity rate among 3,459 tests.

The UA’s decision is based on new guidance from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention which says that communities with low and medium viral transmission rates — most of Arizona, including Pima and Maricopa Counties, is considered medium — residents don’t need to wear masks in most indoor public spaces.

The UA’s plan to end its indoor mask mandate next week follows similar announcements at many other universities, including Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University.

The UA’s planned end to its mask mandate also reflects a trend within the surrounding local community. In February, the Pima County Board of Supervisors voted to end its countywide mask mandate. Last week, the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board also voted to end its mask mandate, effective at the end of this month.

Although the UA is set to end its indoor mask requirement next week, the situation is fluid.

“I think there’s a zoro or a zeta variant that’s going to come back. If that does what delta and omicron did, we’re going to have to go back to requirements,” Robbins said. “That’s going to be a tough procedural and policy action, but if we need to we’ll do it.”

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Kathryn Palmer covers higher education for the Arizona Daily Star. Contact her via e-mail at kpalmer@tucson.com or her new phone number, 520-496-9010.