University of Hawai’i Will Start Fall Semester With Mask Mandate

Updated on August 8, 2022

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University officials will keep a system-wide indoor mask mandate in place through Sept. 19 after consulting with the state Department of Health on COVID-19 guidelines.

A student walks on campus at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S., on Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. Honolulu, the southernmost major U.S. city, is a major financial center of the islands of the Pacific Ocean.

Credit: Tim Rue / Contributor / Bloomberg / Getty Images

The indoor mask mandate applies to all 10 schools of the University of Hawai’i system.
The fall 2022 semester starts Aug. 22.
Hawaii maintained a state-wide indoor mask mandate through the end of March 2022.

Students in the University of Hawai’i (UH) system will start the fall 2022 semester with an indoor mask mandate.

Officials announced last week that masks will be required indoors in classrooms, shared lab spaces, and confined educational spaces in all 10 campuses of the UH system. They likewise recommend masking in all other indoor settings on its campuses.

The fall 2022 semester starts Aug. 22, and the mandate will remain in effect through Sept. 19, officials said in a letter sent to the UH community..

“The retention of this indoor masking requirement will help everyone safely begin the semester while all but one of our counties is at a “high” COVID-19 community level,” officials said in the letter.

Hawaii maintained a blanket indoor mask mandate longer than any other U.S. state. Gov. David Y. Ige lifted the mandate at the end of March 2022.

On Aug. 3, the state recorded a weekly average of 528 cases per day and a positivity rate of 13.8%, according to the Hawaii COVID-19 Data Dashboard.