Highline still needs to collect data before it can tell people if they can take their masks off on campus, the college’s top health official said last week.
But many Highline students say they would take their masks off if the college allows it.
Recently, Washington Governor Jay Inslee ordered that the indoor mask mandate will be lifted on Saturday, March 12. However, Highline announced via e-mail on March 2 that there would be no change in mask requirements on campus before the end of Winter Quarter.
College officials say no change is likely until the governor amends his higher education order, which requires people on college campuses to wear masks while indoors.
Officials at the state Department of Health declined to comment on the higher education order. But on Wednesday said that masks are no longer required in the K-12 system, while cautioning that masks may still be necessary in some situations.
Seattle public schools immediately ended their mask mandate. For the interim, however, Highline will stay masked.
“It is reasonable to continue requiring face masks throughout winter quarter, that will allow our campus time to look at the guidance as it continues to become available and talk to experts in our community,” said Nicki Bly, Highline’s public health director. “We are also developing more ways for employees and students to provide input regarding face masks.”
Echoing Health Department guidelines, Bly said the college will continue with a “layered approach” to COVID safety.
“I believe a layered approach is best to prevent the transmission of the COVID virus and serious illness,” she said. “Being a vaccinated campus, wearing face masks, staying off campus when you have COVID-19 symptoms, providing on campus COVID tests, hand sanitizer in buildings, sneeze guards in high volume areas and disinfection protocols all are part of that layered approach.”
Face masks are a critical and readily available component that protects from COVID and its high risk variants, she said.
“Face masks in particular have played a critical role and one we have placed emphasis on here at Highline,” said Bly. “In the Winter Quarter, you saw encouragement to wear a higher-level face mask to fight the Omicron variant of COVID-19. This was because of how easily Omicron spreads, and fortunately, these high-level face masks KN95, N95, and KF94 are now readily available to the public.”
People won’t have to be masked on campus forever, she said.
“Can we stop wearing a face mask? Perhaps,” bly said. “We now have high levels of population immunity from both vaccination and infections resulting in greatly reduced risk of medically significant disease, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19 for most people. Transmission levels and hospitalization levels continue to trend down and using the CDC’s new COVID-19 community level matrix that looks at new COVID-19 admissions, percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, and total new COVID-19 cases, in King County the COVID-19 community level is low.”
Nonetheless, many people remain unvaccinated, Bly said.
“At the same time, we know that some people, such as our oldest citizens, people who are immunocompromised, unvaccinated, and people with disabilities, are at higher risk for serious illness and face challenging decisions navigating a world with COVID-19,” Bly said.
“So, you can see there is a lot to consider and that we don’t plan to make a hasty decision when it comes to the safety of our campus,” she said.
“The public health leadership council has been following the Governor’s indoor mask announcements very closely but it’s important to remember that the higher education proclamation remains in effect until the Governor rescinds or modifies it,” said Francesca Fender, associate director of public safety and emergency management.
“We’ve sent out clarifying emails to employees and students that state the college’s safety plans still require masks in all classrooms, labs, common areas, study areas, hallways, library spaces, and places where others are present with existing exceptions, such as dining on the first floor of building eight,” Fender said. “More information on safety planning for the spring quarter will follow in the coming weeks.”
People who refuse to wear masks on campus will be reminded of Highline’s mask policy and will be offered a mask, Fender said. If they still refuse to comply with public safety the issue will be escalated.
“All employees and students regardless of vaccination status are required to wear a mask indoors while on campus, even after the indoor mask mandate ends on March 12,” said Fender. “If someone reports a safety concern such as someone who isn’t wearing a mask inside a campus building our first course of action is to offer this person a disposable or cloth mask and remind them of the current policy.
“There are very few instances that go beyond that step,” she said. “However, if the safety problem persisted the college would try to offer people alternative options, such as utilizing services online, zoom lobbies, and taking classes online.”
Even though mask mandates have been dropped many people will continue wearing masks for the safety of others, Fender said.
“I feel very comfortable wearing a mask while I work on campus for my safety and the safety of others. While transmission was high in King County due to omicron, it was the primary safety method that made me feel protected while I worked on campus,” she said.
“It’s hard not to feel some relief that the worst part of the pandemic may be coming to an end,” Fender said. “However, after two years of riding through the unpredictable ups and downs, the new variants and restrictions, I approach every new change with a healthy amount of caution. I’m ready for a gradual, safe transition into this next phase, but I’ll be keeping a watchful eye on the hospitalization rates in the county.”
Before the college’s announcement on maintaining the mask mandate, some students said they were ready to lose their masks.
Like many students, Andrea Orman said that if Highline were to end the mask mandate, then she wouldn’t wear her mask anymore.
“If they dropped the mask mandate, then I wouldn’t wear a mask,” Orman said. “And if they continue to make us wear masks I would be honestly pretty upset since the state is mandating that they are going away, and the rest of the country doesn’t have them on anymore, so why shouldn’t we have them off?”
She said she would feel pretty upset if Highline students weren’t allowed to take their masks off.
“Honestly, I just want them off and life to go back to normal,” Orman said. “So, if they didn’t follow the state guidelines then I would be upset about it since we’ve been dealing with this for two years already. But I’m doing full online next quarter so it wouldn’t affect me, but if I was going in person, I’d definitely want the masks off.”
Maili Christianson agreed with Orman, saying that she would take her mask off if Highline said she could.
“Yes, if Highline College lets us take our masks off I would totally not wear mine anymore. I want to be able to breathe again,” she said with a laugh.
Christianson also said that she would respect other students’ decisions if they were to still use their masks.
“If others take theirs off cool, that means I can see faces again,” Christianson said. “But I think it can still be a personal choice. If some people feel safer with theirs on then they can continue to wear them, and they can still social distance if they want. But for me I would not wear it anymore.”
Christianson said she would continue to wear a mask on campus if required, however.
“If they continue to mandate the masks, I will still wear it at school, but I would feel disappointed, because I feel like the rules should be the same for everywhere so it’s more clear,” she said. “Also, I just feel like if they continue with the masks at Highline, when will they ever choose to let us not wear masks if we want if it’s not now?”
Katelyn Brandon said that currently she doesn’t have any in-person classes and won’t for Spring Quarter, but she is unsure on whether students should still wear their masks.
“I don’t have any in person classes at Highline this quarter or next, but if I did, I’d say it depends,” she said. “There’s a lot of factors that go into it, but I’d say that class size and what the class is specifically are the bigger ones.
“Like if it was just us sitting at our desks listening to lectures, I probably wouldn’t wear a mask,” Brandon said. “But if we were all walking around or getting close to each other then I probably would.”
Brandon continued to say that wearing a mask doesn’t really affect her even if she were to have in-person classes.
“If they continued to make us wear masks, if I was on campus, I probably wouldn’t care that much because I really don’t mind wearing a mask. either way isn’t too big of a deal for me personally,” she said.
Student Ivy Luong said that she’d continue to wear her mask even if Highline were to drop the mask mandate.
“If Highline dropped the mandate I would still continue to wear my mask,” she said, adding that ending the mask mandate seems too rushed.
“I don’t think we’re ready to lift the mandate quite yet. It all seems very fast,” she said.
Fred Goglia, director of Highline’s Respiratory Care program, urged caution on deciding whether to unmask.
“While the Omicron variant seems to be waning, we still have a high risk for community transmission according to the King County DOH. We seem to be on the backside of this surge, but the baseline rate of transmission and case counts are still quite high,” said Goglia.
“Hospital admissions are ebbing as well, but the recent surge was quite overwhelming. There is a crisis in the health care system right now. The staff and resources needed to care for large volumes of cases are simply not there in our region,” Goglia said.
“Omicron really tested our ability to care for patients, far more than in prior surges.
There will be new variants and outbreaks as the virus will continue to mutate,” he said.
Current data show that masks have proven to protect individuals against COVID-19.
“Our understanding of the virus continues to grow. Right now, our understanding is that masks help prevent transmission,” Goglia said.
“The times I have been in quarantine were all related to times where I took my mask off. Eating in a break room, for example, landed me in isolation for 14 days. This was prior to when we had vaccines. The point being you just cannot tell if someone near you has COVID,” he said.
“COVID 19 has taken the lives of over 5 million people worldwide 11,194 of those are our friends and neighbors in Washington. The rate of hospitalization and death is significantly higher among the population that are unvaccinated. These thoughts make me feel very cautious about how my choices affect others,” Goglia said.
He said that policy choices involving the pandemic are always challenging.
“Policymakers have a very difficult job in deciding what to do here,” Goglia said.
“On one hand, mandates clearly impacted the rate of transmission in Washington. On the other hand, they have divided us in a profound and deep way. I am not sure that the time for mandates is over, they may be the thing that keeps us moving forward towards a more normal life,” he said.
“Fighter pilots have an adage, speed is life, altitude is life insurance. I think that applies to my thinking as well, vaccines are life and a mask is life insurance. I personally will continue to wear a mask and approach my behaviors with caution to protect,” Goglia said.
For more information regarding COVID-19 guidelines at Highline visit the college’s COVID-19 page at https://www.highline.edu/covid19/
If you have any questions or concerns regarding COVID safety on campus contact Covid19Response@highline.edu or nbly@highline.edu.
Reporter Severiano Garcia contributed to this story.