Fitchburg, Framingham, Worcester State and their counterparts statewide will require students to receive COVID-19 vaccines this fall, they said in a joint announcement Friday.
Those colleges join others in Massachusetts including Assumption University in Worcester and Northeastern University in Boston to announce requirements before students are able to attend in-person courses or live in residence halls. The Massachusetts State University Council of Presidents said it expects employees to be fully vaccinated before the start of the fall semester.
“Student safety and the safety of our communities remains at the forefront of our planning as we prepare to return to in-person learning and campus life in the fall, James Birge, the president of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in Boston and chair of the state university presidents group, said in a statement.
By Colin A. Young, State House News Service
Joining Northeastern University, Emerson College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the Massachusetts state university system bcame the latest to require that its students be vaccinated against the coronavirus before returning to campus for in-person classes in the fall semester.
Undergraduate and graduate students who are attending in-person classes, conducting research on campus, living in residence halls or participating in campus life activities will be required to become fully inoculated prior to the start of the 2021 academic year, the presidents of the nine state universities agreed, according to the State Universities Council of Presidents.
April 27, 2021 - 12:46 PM
BOSTON - Massachusetts is relaxing its outdoor mask mandate as the numbers of hospitalizations and cases of COVID-19 continue to decline in the state, the Baker administration said on Tuesday.
Beginning Friday, face masks will only be required outside in public when it s not possible to socially distance â or when required for other reasons, including at outdoor events.
Face coverings will still be required at all times in indoor public places, including stores.
Face coverings will also continue to be required at all times at events, whether held indoors or outdoors and whether held in a public space or private home, except when eating or drinking.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute will take over the Massachusetts Digital Games Institute after Becker College, MassDiGI s host, closes following the end of the spring semester.
WPI previously offered to host the video game center when Becker announced in late March it would close its doors because of financial difficulties. That was made official in an announcement at the center on Monday.
Timothy Loew, the MassDiGI founder and executive director, called the institute and WPI a perfect match. Like Becker, WPI, located only a few blocks away, has an internationally renown video game design program, which started in 2004 as one of the first such undergraduate degree programs in game design.
Massachusetts to relax outdoor mask mandate beginning Friday
April 27, 2021 GMT
BOSTON (AP) Massachusetts is relaxing its outdoor mask mandate as the numbers of hospitalizations and cases of COVID-19 continue to decline in the state, the Baker administration said on Tuesday.
Beginning Friday, face masks will only be required outside in public when it’s not possible to socially distance or when required for other reasons, including at outdoor events.
Face coverings will still be required at all times in indoor public places, including stores.
Face coverings will also continue to be required at all times at events, whether held indoors or outdoors and whether held in a public space or private home, except when eating or drinking.