How Rider has changed since the mask mandate was removed – The Rider News

By Shaun Chornobroff

Walking into any building on Rider’s campus on March 5, whether it be the student recreation center, gymnasium, or campus bookstore, was largely missing something that had become a campus mainstay ever since the COVID-19 pandemic first broke out in the country almost two years ago.

The missing object? Face masks.

March 5 was the day Rider’s repeal of the campus-wide mask mandate went into effect, which meant students and faculty were no longer required to wear face coverings when out and about. were inside campus buildings.

Rider Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Planning and Secretary to the Board of Directors, Debbie Stasolla, who is one of the leaders of the COVID-19 Implementation Team, said, “I don’t haven’t heard much about repression. Honestly from what I can tell the majority of the community is happy to have this choice [to wear masks].”

In the month since the repeal of the mask mandate, Rider has seen 16 positive cases, as of April 1, according to the university’s dashboard which is updated every Friday.

The dashboard showed only two positive cases of COVID-19 in the first three weeks after the repeal of the mask mandate, although one of those weeks was spring break.

Anthony Corbi, junior sports media at Rider, tried to organize a protest against the back-to-school mask mandate.

Corbi said he felt relieved when he found out the mask mandate had been lifted at the university.

“Just from a sanity perspective, it definitely makes it a lot easier,” Corbi said. “…It’s really hard to engage with people when everyone’s wearing a mask. I’ve found that a lot of times when there’s a mask mandate and I’m inside with someone or a group of people, I often don’t feel like I’m completely there because people can’t read my facial expressions, or people misunderstand what I’m saying because they can’t hear me well because of the mask.

Over the past month, Corbi has noticed a marked difference in the atmosphere of his classes.

“I think [classes] have definitely become more interactive. It’s easier to hear people, it’s easier to give a presentation on something, whereas before it was standing in the class with a mask, it was almost like people were hiding behind their cue cards when they were giving a high school presentation,” Corbi said.

From March 26 to April 1, the week after students and faculty returned from spring break, the dashboard showed 14 positive cases; 10 from students and four from professors, bringing the total for the spring semester to 76 cases.

Stasolla explained that the cases treated by the university are relatively mild and attributes the rise to the new variant which continues to spread in the state.

“I expect that number to be around that, more or less for this week as well,” Stassola said.

The slight increase in cases at the university coincides with an increase in New Jersey and Mercer County, where Rider is located. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention lists Mercer County as a low community level of COVID-19 on its website, as of April 5.

Despite Stasolla not being overly concerned about the increase in cases, she stressed that the university community must continue to be aware of the virus and its spread, as well as follow the guidelines of the implementation team. artwork.

Stasolla said: “I strongly believe that if we continue to do these kinds of things as responsible members of the university community, then I think we can get through the rest of this semester successfully, with as little disruption as possible. ”