College and university campuses

Emerging concerns

• College students flaunt mask mandate at social gatherings. The College Fix, October 14, 2021.
• Parents and physicians sue over an Oklahoma mask mandate ban. AP News, August 12, 2021.
• Colleges with no vaccine or mask mandate disturb parents and professors. Yahoo News, July 29, 2021.

Ethical principles

• Requirements for mandatory liberty-limiting and social distancing interventions should be imposed only in cases in which voluntary actions seem unlikely to be effective. CDC Ethics in Pandemic Flu
• Public health laws should provide authority for appropriate actions that might be necessary in the event of a public health emergency. WHO Ethics in Pandemic Flu
• Include appropriate publication of the public health law and educate the public on how to comply with both the letter and the spirit of the law. APHA Code of Ethics, 4.6.5.
• A process should be in place for objections to be heard, restrictions appealed, and for new procedures to be considered prior to implementation. CDC Ethics in Pandemic Flu
• The public should be clearly informed that restrictions on personal freedom are anticipated, that these limitations may be important to the individual’s own protection, and that they are also necessary to limit the spread of disease throughout the community. CDC Ethics in Pandemic Flu

Recommendations and practices

• State-by-state mask mandate tracker for colleges. University Business, September 3, 2021.
• Universities begin lifting their mask mandates. Forbes, November 16, 2021.

Emerging concerns

• Limited effectiveness of technology implemented by universities for COVID-19 screening. New York Times, March 2, 2021.
• Not all campuses are testing as frequently as recommended by public health experts. CDC, March 17, 2021; New York Times, February 9, 2021.
• The financial cost of COVID-19 testing. New York Times, August 12, 2020.
• Some campus health services provide poor quality of care and lack infrastructure to respond to COVID-19 outbreaks. Washington Post, July 13, 2020.
• 70% of institutions lack at least one full-time physician or staff member.  12% of historically black colleges and universities have no campus clinic. Washington Post, July 13, 2020.

Ethical principles

• Preparedness plans should be flexible enough to allow timely adaptation as new evidence about the nature of the disease arises. WHO Ethics in Pandemic Flu
• Costs and other practical constraints (e.g. logistics, distance, available workforce) may legitimately be taken into account to determine whether a less restrictive alternative is feasible under the circumstances, particularly in settings with severe resource constraints. WHO Ethics in an Outbreak

Recommendations and practices

• The Open Smart Edu COVID-19 Planning Guide and Self-Assessment for Higher Education provides recommendations about outbreak mitigation protocols, emergency planning, health safety measures and policies, and financial planning (pdf: Sections 2, 3, and 5).
• The Open Smart Edu COVID-19 Planning Guide and Self-Assessment for Higher Education discusses ensuring equitable and sustained access to campus health services (pdf: Section 12).
• The Open Smart Edu COVID-19 Planning Guide and Self-Assessment for Higher Education details campus infrastructure guidelines (pdf: Section 14).
• Tracking COVID cases at US colleges and universities. New York Times, May 26, 2021.