Engaging the community, one mask at a time At 10 sites across campus for 10 weeks, Penn Nursing students made 400 weekly observations about mask usage, part of MASCUP, a nationwide initiative spearheaded by the CDC that includes 53 colleges and universities. Lauren Fisher, a student in the Accelerated BSN Second Degree program in the School of Nursing, hands out mask kits in April. The event signified an endpoint to the semester long MASCUP, which included documenting for the CDC how many people were wearing masks, what type of mask, and whether they were worn correctly.
On a cold and windy April day, six Penn Nursing students stood in groups of two and three at the corner of 40th and Walnut streets. Under a gray folding table, several backpacks perched against an open cardboard box. Tallulah, junior Lily McDowell’s dog and unofficial mascot of the day’s events, stood at the ready, her leash attached to McDowell�