PORTLAND, Ore. — When Oregon drops the public indoor mask mandate in late March, school districts, businesses and public universities will have to come up with their own masking policies.
KGW checked in with three of Oregon’s largest universities: Oregon State University, Portland State University and the University of Oregon, to get an update on any COVID-related changes.
OSU released a number of announcements this week.
“The university is going to maintain, until further notice, our requirements for face coverings in indoor public settings,” said Steve Clark, vice president for university relations and marketing at OSU.
But Clark said that could change depending on public health conditions as March 31 approaches, when state health officials plan to lift the indoor mask mandate.
"As Oregon’s statewide university with operations in all of Oregon’s 36 counties, we will be monitoring local public health policies and ordinances by counties statewide," said Clark. "Our primary objective will remain unchanged: Maintain public health measures that seek to protect the health of the university community and communities in which we operate."
Then there's a change to the policy for outdoor events, including outdoor sports. Clark said OSU will no longer require proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID test.
“The reason we're doing that is we're finding that outdoor events are typically not as subject to transmission,” he said.
Boosters are still required for all employees, students and visitors but the deadline has been extended from February 15 to May 1.
“Access to booster shots are not as readily available as we believed they would be when we made this announcement,” said Clark.
The University of Oregon also extended its booster requirement deadline, to March 18. There has been no word on a masking policy as of yet.
At Portland State University, no decision has been made on the masking issue. Boosters are expected to become a requirement but a spokesperson said the school first needs to develop an enforcement plan.
Both OSU and UO have online portals to help track student and employee information.