Franklin College will require all students and staff to wear masks indoors, and Clark-Pleasant will require all staff to wear masks.
Both policies took effect Thursday as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations surge again. For the first time in months, more than 3,000 new cases were reported Thursday across the state, and more than 300 new cases were reported this week in Johnson County, according to the Indiana Department of Health.
Franklin College initially planned to require masks among all unvaccinated students, with a mask optional policy for students who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. But with the rise of the Delta variant, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advising everyone wear masks in areas of elevated infection regardless of vaccination status, the college changed course.
Johnson County moved to the “orange” COVID-19 classification Wednesday, based on the state’s color-coded metrics indicating community spread. The change was what pushed college officials to require masks, President Kerry Prather said in an email to students Thursday.
Johnson County had a seven-day rolling average of 64 cases a day as of Friday, more than 21 times the rolling average of three cases a day on July 5. The positivity rate in the county is more than 10%, according to the Indiana Department of Health.
The college has asked students to submit their vaccination status, but is not yet sure what percentage of the student body is vaccinated, Prather said in the email.
“I will repeat the plea made for months to the entire campus community. If you have not already been vaccinated and are not medically restricted from being, please consider doing so immediately,” Prather said. “At minimum, please consult your primary health care provider for advice on the wisdom of being vaccinated.”
While none of the six county school districts have required masks for students, Clark-Pleasant schools became the first this school year to mandate masks at any level, requiring staff at all buildings wear masks in classrooms and in any congregate settings indoors. Superintendent Patrick Spray announced the new guidance in a video to the Clark-Pleasant community Thursday.
Spray didn’t go as far as mandating masks for students, but “strongly encourages” them to mask up, he said.
From the first day of school July 28 through Wednesday, Clark-Pleasant has had 48 students test positive for COVID-19, and 288 students identified as close contacts, 29 of whom were vaccinated. Unvaccinated students who are listed as close contacts are required to quarantine for two weeks after exposure to a positive case.
In response to the increase in cases, educators will work to maintain distance between students in classrooms and keep students in assigned cohorts to ease contact tracing efforts, Spray said in the video.
“We will continue to promote vaccinations and promote community (vaccination) locations on our website,” Spray said. “We will get through this together. We have shown our resolve for more than a year, and we will continue to press forward.”
