The Lipscomb community will be required to wear a mask in indoor spaces beginning Friday. The announcement was made to students and faculty in an email Wednesday afternoon; it follows a recent surge in local Delta variant cases.
“As we are preparing for a strong start to the year, the COVID-19 Delta variant continues to spread and has proven to be markedly more transmissible than earlier strains of the virus,” said the university in its notification of the mandate.
“Because of the increasing presence of the Delta variant, we have implemented a few policies and procedures to help mitigate the spread of the virus in an effort to start the semester strong. These are similar to the policies at peer institutions such as the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Middle Tennessee State University and Belmont University.”
The Lipscomb mask mandate currently expires Sept. 3 and applies to all students, faculty, staff and guests in university buildings (regardless of vaccination status). The university is also pushing vaccines, adding in the email that “approximately 99% of those in our nation who are having serious adverse effects or are dying as a result of the virus are unvaccinated.”
Lumination will continue to keep you updated on this developing story