Change to masking guidance

March 4, 2022

Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its masking guidance to align  with new metrics for COVID-19 risk in local communities. 

With the national shift in masking guidance, it makes sense for our universities to do the same. Effective  March 1, we will adopt a more localized approach. Under this new approach, each chancellor will be  responsible for setting masking expectations at each of their locations based on the CDC’s COVID-19  community levels. System office employees and others working or studying at locations outside their  home university’s community will follow the local university guidance. 

With this change, chancellors will manage this important safety measure as COVID-19 ebbs and flows in  their communities. This is the first step in a process to eventually move beyond pandemic response and  into normal operations alongside COVID-19. 

Please watch for an email in the coming days, which will have more information from your chancellors.  Each university’s masking expectations will also be shared on their COVID-19 pages. 

Thank you for your continued patience and diligence as we move toward a long-term approach to  managing COVID-19 across our university communities. 

Sincerely, 

Pat Pitney, President 

University of Alaska