UCLA Drops Indoor Mask Mandate
Credit: Al Seib / Contributor / Los Angeles Times / Getty Images- Los Angeles County announced last week that indoor masking is no longer required on campus.
- UCLA students are also no longer required to fill out a daily symptom-monitoring survey.
- The university still requires all students and staff on campus to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination and boosters.
Starting this week, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) will no longer require masks while indoors on its campus.
The largest school in the University of California system updated its COVID-19 protocols late last week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) dropped Los Angeles County from “high” to “medium” transmission levels.
In addition to dropping the indoor mask mandate, UCLA students are now no longer required to fill out a daily symptom-monitoring survey, according to the updated protocols. They will instead be asked to self-assess their condition and stay off of campus if they are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms.
UCLA students, staff and faculty concerned that they may have been exposed to COVID-19 can still access tests through the campus vending machine system, the university said.
Likewise, all UCLA students and staff on campus are still required to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination and boosters, the university said.
L.A. County was at “high” COVID-19 community transmission levels for most of July as infectious omicron subvarients spread.
However, on July 28 the L.A. County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) announced it wouldn’t institute an indoor mask mandate as COVID-19 cases and transmission began to decline. That left COVID-19 safety measures impacting nearly 1 million college students up to their individual institutions.
Masks remain required in indoor public transit areas in L.A. County, including airports, as well as in healthcare settings, nursing homes, prisons, and shelters. Private businesses and schools are allowed to require indoor masking as well.