Virginia’s George Mason University announced Friday that it is easing its COVID-19 restrictions, including making masks optional except in classrooms and labs during scheduled courses.
The university system is also lifting the mask mandate for events with more than 50 attendees unless required by the event organizers.
George Mason will also be relaxing its testing protocols for students in high-contact roles and for unvaccinated students. Mason’s surveillance and testing sites, though, will remain open.
“This is an important day. We have met our goal of keeping our COVID-19 testing positivity rates consistently below 4% for the past several weeks,” wrote George Mason University President Gregory Washington in a letter.
“Last week our positivity rate dropped to 0.29% out of more than 4,700 tests conducted. Last Friday alone, not one of the 1,000 tests processed in our Mason laboratory yielded a positive result,” he added.
George Mason is home to more than 37,000 students on its campuses in Fairfax, Arlington and Prince William counties.
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