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As Kentuckians celebrate the end of the mask requirement for fully vaccinated Americans, the commonwealth s universities are taking the change into account as they plan for the fall semester.
The University of Louisville and Western Kentucky University both made ammendments to their mask policies following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention s Thursday announcement that fully vaccinated people can safely stop wearing masks and maintaining a certain distance from others inside most places.
At U of L, fully vaccinated university members now can temporarily remove their mask when meeting indoors with other fully vaccinated people. If an unvaccinated person is in the group, masks must still be worn in all indoor and common areas on campus, according to the update announced Thursday.
Credit Corinne Boyer / Ohio Valley Resource
Roughly a million students attend college around the Ohio Valley, and the student-age population has an especially high rate of coronavirus infection. That’s why some public health advocates say schools should require that students be vaccinated.
However, a review by the Ohio Valley ReSource found that of 400 colleges and universities in Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia, only three have indicated that they will mandate COVID-19 vaccinations this fall.
The age group with the highest share of COVID-19 infections is under 30. About a fifth of all U.S. cases have occurred in people ages 18 to 29. In late April the American College Health Association, an organization that works to improve the health of college students and college campuses, recommended that schools make COVID-19 immunization mandatory for students.
Credit Ryland Barton / WFPL
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said treating the start of American slavery as a significant moment in the country’s history is an “exotic notion.” Leaders at the University of Louisville, where he made that comment on Monday, say he’s wrong.
V. Faye Jones, senior associate vice president for diversity and equity, pushed back on his comments in a campus-wide email Thursday. She said university leaders, including President Neeli Bendapudi, joined her in rejecting “the idea that the year 1619 is not a critical moment in the history of this country.“
Bendapudi was on stage with McConnell when he criticized the New York Times’ 1619 Project and said its teachings should not be core to American civic education.
Louisville Courier Journal
The University of Louisville s leadership publicly criticized alumnus Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for saying he doesn t see 1619 often seen as the start of American slavery as one of U.S. history s most important points.
U of L s interim senior associate vice president for diversity and equity, Dr. V. Faye Jones, sent out a campuswide email Thursday in which she said McConnell s comments are quite troubling for American descendants of slaves, our allies and those who support us. To imply that slavery is not an important part of United States history not only fails to provide a true representation of the facts, but also denies the heritage, culture, resilience and survival of Black people in America, Jones said in the email.