Cal Poly drops indoor mask requirement for vaccinated people for spring quarter
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo will join the rest of the county in dropping its indoor mask requirement for vaccinated people in the spring quarter.
Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong made the announcement official in an email to faculty, staff and students today.
Only those who are fully vaccinated with a booster shot will be able to go maskless in indoor settings, which includes classrooms and labs.
Unvaccinated people will still have to wear a mask inside, and test regularly for COVID-19.
Right now, the university is not requiring masks outside of classrooms, labs, healthcare settings and shuttle vehicles. The mask requirement will be dropped in those areas when the spring quarter starts on March 28.
Armstrong said that while “the science suggests that it would be safe to lift the mandate in classrooms sooner,” the university decided to transition to the new policy in spring quarter to minimize confusion and disruption.
The university’s rate of vaccinated people is also much higher than the rest of the county. Armstrong said in his letter that over 94% of students are vaccinated, 90% of those eligible are boosted, and over 92% of staff are vaccinated.
In the rest of SLO County, 67% of residents are fully vaccinated, 51.2% have a booster shot and 26.4% are unvaccinated.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office investigating police shooting near Lompoc
There’s an ongoing investigation into yesterday’s police shooting of a suspect near Lompoc.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office says it’s investigating what led to the Wednesday afternoon shooting in which deputies shot the suspect in the torso after a series of vehicle crashes.
The suspect was taken to a local hospital and is expected to recover, according to the Sheriff’s office.
The incident led to a shelter-in-place in Vandenberg Village and the lockdown of a nearby high school.
