OU plans to keep mask mandate regardless of county changes
Oakland University currently has no plans to lift the indoor campus mask mandate.
While Oakland and Wayne county, among several others, have announced plans to lift mask mandates in schools by the end of February, Oakland University currently plans on keeping its indoor campus-wide mask mandate in place.
“At this point, there are no changes in our policies,” said Ann Rayford, head of the Graham Health Center and campus pandemic strategy. “We will continue to evaluate the status of the pandemic and our multi-layered prevention strategy. Any updates to our process/policy will be communicated to the campus community.”
The university’s multi-layered prevention strategy for COVID-19 consists of the vaccine mandate, as well as indoor masks requirements and daily health screenings.
In response to the increased COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant, the university elected to move most classes to an online format for the first four weeks of the winter semester. Since the Feb. 1 return to in-person instruction, the university has made KN95 masks available, and hosted three pop-up COVID-19 vaccine clinics on campus on Jan. 27, Feb. 1 and Feb.3.
According to the latest available data, there have been 608 positive cases of COVID-19 reported among the campus community since Jan. 1, 2022. Since resuming all in-person campus activities on Feb. 1, there have been 85 reported cases.
Yousef • Feb 15, 2022 at 3:26 PM
I think Ms. Rayford is wrong. What multi layered strategy are we talking about exactly? Are we talking about masking, vaccination, social distancing, and increased ventilation?
Cloth Masks do nothing to stop the spread of COVID, the CDC already admitted it as has been widely reported on. They only make the sheep feel better and act as a symbol to perpetuate the fear and anxiety COVID has had on us all. It seems to me based on my observation of those around me is no one wears masks properly and they act more of a bacteria magnet than a useful infection prevention tool.
Vaccines also do not stop the spread of COVID. They were never intended to. They prevent the risk of hospitalization and death. There are other approaches to accomplishing this exact outcome with early treatment strategies. You should consider the population you’re intending to protect. most of the OU population is young and healthy individuals. Statistically we have a negligible risk of any serious consequences from infection and since the vaccine doesn’t stop the spread the point that we are protecting ourselves and others is lost and there is no justification for vaccine clinics let alone a mandate. There are however legitimate concerns when it comes to side effects of the vaccine especially when it comes to healthy young men. Therefore in the absence of any reasonable justification for a mandatory inoculation it should be left to the student and their respective doctors.
The faculty is a different demographic that should be considered independently. A combination of enhanced ventilation and social distancing should suffice to protect them.
This “Multi layered” strategy seems to be missing some level of cogency. I do not blame Ms. Rayford she is a victim of listening to an incompetent public health apparatus that is so drunk on their own power they cannot see 2 inches in front of them.
OP censors let this be published.
Daniel • Feb 15, 2022 at 6:45 PM
Yousef, you are absolutely correct. Which is why OU is going to continue with this nonsense. They are very much a part of the system which has been ignoring the science in favor of political power-grabbing (and in this case money grabbing as well). But this is entirely in keeping with every other behavior by this University’s administration, so it is an expected decision.
Yousef • Feb 16, 2022 at 8:31 AM
I do not think Ms. Rayford is trying to exercise political power, neither do I think the admins are. i could be wrong. I think that they have either been conditioned or threatened into compliance with the national and state public heath apparatus. I doubt they read the science journals o magazines, i doubt they scour pubmed, read history, pay attention to global news, or understand how authoritarian governments come to be. If they would allow themselves to think critically and see how the FDA, CDC, and various levels of state and local PHAs have failed and discredited themselves over the last two years they would probably change their minds.
I think the issue is we are being lead by either:
1. incompetent bumbling morons
2. brainwashed automatons
3. gutless pathetic cowardly jellyfish to weak and feable to stand for something
either way i think we can agree that what we are getting is exactly what we would expect.