DE PERE (NBC 26) — Effective Monday, August 2, everyone at St. Norbert College (SNC), including visitors are required to wear a mask indoors, regardless if vaccinated or unvaccinated.
The requirement applies at all times except when one is in their personal work or living space. Masks still remain optional outdoors.
In a press conference Monday, Chrystal Woller, the Health Services Director at SNC said that for the last 18 to 20 months the institution has been following the recommendations from public health partners.
“….At the federal level, the CDC, the State level at Wisconsin DHS and local level at the City of De Pere Health Department and this is no different. In our fall guidelines, we had adapted our newest CDC guidelines as it related to masks and this weekend unfortunately we are now in a substantial transmission category according to the CDC. So we are following the CDC guidance and that all people will be masking indoors here at St. Norbert College,” Woller said.
When asked how disappointing this was, Woller shares it feels like things are going back to what we saw before.
“It does feel like a step backward, right, everyone feels that. And so we do, we have to adapt to what the transmission levels are. And we knew that with this virus. We can relax things when things are improving and we have to again go ahead and implement mitigation strategies when things get worse,” Woller said.
She said she is working with the administration as they continue to monitor public health guidelines.
“We will continue to monitor this ever-changing situation and adjust accordingly,” Woller said. “It really is following the trends and following the public health guidance. Hard to say a timeline right, but we will continue to monitor the situation talking with our local health department on a weekly basis and then respond accordingly.”
As the fall semester is quickly approaching, Woller said as of right now there are no plans to move classes virtual or hybrid.
“All of our classes will be in person but we know that we will be ready to respond with changing environments,” Woller said.
While things continue to change rapidly, she says she hopes people get the shot if they haven’t done so already.
“I would recommend that all people who can get vaccinated to get vaccinated. So hopefully we can get to a place where we can begin to relax some of these mitigation strategies,” Woller said.
A professor at St. Norbert shares his thoughts on the new mask guidance.
“I think we are making this change for at least indoor masking because we want to keep everyone safe and because we believe in the science,” said Angel Saavedra Cisneros, Assistant Professor of Political Science. “I think it’s important we continue to monitor the science. We need to follow the science, we’re an institution of higher institution education and that’s how science works. We learn new things, we adapt, we change and at St. Norbert I felt that our number one commitment is our community."
He explained how some people might have loved ones at home who are more vulnerable which is why he said it’s important we can continue to keep them safe.
“I think if we are following CDC guidance, I think we have to continue to care for each other. Some of us have children at home who are not in the age that can be vaccinated. Some people have pre-existing conditions that might make any infection worse. So I think this is what we should do. We should care for each other, listen to the experts, learn from experience and move forward,” Saavedra Cisneros said.
Finally, he shares about what it was like teaching this past school year while navigating through the pandemic:
