Georgetown University’s mask-optional policy went into effect March 21. The case rate has since risen from 1.5% during the week of March 13-19 to 3.82% during the week of March 27 to April 2. Outbreaks of a new COVID-19 variant, BA.2, are causing spikes in cases across Europe and Asia, an indication of possible outbreaks here in the United States.
The threat of the COVID-19 pandemic is not over; Georgetown should not discount the dangers of “long COVID-19” nor the devastating impacts of COVID-19 for at-risk populations on campus. To embody its Jesuit value of “cura personalis,” Georgetown should not have gotten rid of the mask mandate in classrooms to begin with. Only when COVID-19 became a danger for the community at large did Georgetown finally act to protect those who are most vulnerable. Moreover, those calling for the continued lifting of the mask mandate are disregarding the health of their most vulnerable community members.
Immunocompromised students deserve to learn and live in a safe environment. Commuters risk bringing the virus home every day to their family members, many of whom are older parents or young children. Professors and staff members face the danger of infection every time they show up to work.
Although the death and hospitalization rates among younger people are substantially lower than those of older populations, COVID-19 continues to pose serious dangers to young people. A United Kingdom study found that approximately 10% of those who have had COVID-19, including young people, experience prolonged symptoms even if their initial symptoms were relatively mild.
“Long COVID” refers to symptoms that last longer than three weeks after infection and can include difficulty breathing, fatigue, brain fog, heart palpitations, joint or muscle pain, changes in taste or smell, changes in the menstrual cycle and even a potential increased risk of developing diabetes.
There is very little else currently known about long COVID, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognizes it as a prominent threat for young people, even for those without underlying conditions. The U.S. Department of Education has recognized long COVID as a disability to be accommodated in schools, demonstrating the severity of the disease.
Although vaccinations are very effective in preventing deaths and hospitalizations, masking on campus is still necessary to limit viral transmission spread and protect against long COVID. Results have varied on the efficacy of vaccine protection against long COVID. For example, a U.K. study in February 2022 found that close to 10% of fully vaccinated participants showed symptoms of long COVID three months later. For those who are immunocompromised, certain drugs to treat chronic conditions can lower the antibody production response of the vaccine. The best way to prevent long COVID, for now, is to avoid infection in the first place.
Masks work best if everyone wears them: a National Academy of Sciences study found that one-way, well-fitted masking posed a 20% risk of infection, while universal, well-fitted masking dropped the risk to 0.4%. Wearing a fitted N95 or KN95 mask offers a great deal of protection, but not nearly as much if nobody else is.
Dropping the mask requirement in the classroom is dangerous. Neither students nor professors should feel as if they are putting their health or their families’ health at risk in the classroom. However, with the mandatory in-person class policy in place, vulnerable students and professors have little choice but to attend class, regardless of masking policy.
In some cases, masks may hinder communication. To remedy this difficulty and facilitate conversation, individuals can wear see-through masks, hold classes outside, allow for virtual instruction or institute any other mutually agreed-upon measures between students and professors.
Almost one million people in the United States have died of COVID-19 as of April 6, 2022. The pandemic isn’t over, and pretending it is won’t make it go away. It will only make things worse for those who are the most vulnerable.
Georgetown students are meant to be “people for others.” We pride ourselves on “cura personalis,” but true respect for one another means prioritizing the health and safety of our entire community. Georgetown should not have lifted the mandate, especially in classrooms. Only through collective action and responsibility can we protect those who are most at risk in our communities.
Isabel Janovsky is a junior in the College.
Henry Hobin • Apr 11, 2022 at 12:14 pm
It should be a choice. This is America. The fact that every comment on this article, even one by an immunocompromised student, has been negative is a clear indication that you are incredibly alone in this opinion.
Isabel Janovsky • Apr 11, 2022 at 3:38 pm
I beg you to choose a sample size bigger than four comments on a Hoya article. One immunocompromised student doesn’t represent the whole. I’m very glad he’s able to do what he wants, but I live with immunocompromised people and I can assure you that they don’t feel the same way. I really hope that you and your loved ones never have to experience the fear and concern that mine and millions of other families have when confronted with the danger that COVID poses. Again, almost one million people in the United States have died and thousands more are permanently disabled. Your “choice” to not wear a mask directly impacts me and my family.
Lou S. • Apr 10, 2022 at 9:15 pm
Dining at Leo’s poses a greater health risk than hanging with unmasked students who are vaccinated and boosted.
Isabel Janovsky • Apr 11, 2022 at 12:15 pm
Dining at Leo’s IS hanging out with unmasked students who are vaccinated and boosted. Students are not required to eat sitting down, unmasked, at Leo’s, we are required to be in class in person.
Joseph Massaua • Apr 9, 2022 at 3:26 pm
I think this mandate is the opposite of cura personalis. Students are free to wear their masks if they wish, but we know well that regardless of a mandate, from Thursday through Saturday nights a significant majority of Georgetown students “go out” with their friends maskless becoming a source of Covid spread regardless of any mandate. All Georgetown students are vaccinated and boosted, and as an immunocompromised student I feel safe enough to go without a mask. What Georgetown should do is increase funding for CAPS.
Isabel Janovsky • Apr 10, 2022 at 2:12 pm
I’m very glad that you feel safe enough to go without a mask, but that doesn’t mean that everyone on campus does. In fact, I think one huge reason that we need a mask mandate in class is *because* students go out Thursday-Saturday. If they get COVID outside and spread it to their friends, that’s their prerogative. What about the people who don’t go out because they don’t want to get COVID? We still have to be in class with those who have been going out. The mask mandate specifically protects those who don’t want to get COVID from those who have been going out. As I mentioned in the article, vaccinations and boosters are great protection against COVID hospitalization, death, and even long COVID and Georgetown has definitely done the right thing with requiring vaccines and boosters. However, the pandemic is not over and we shouldn’t act like it is. There are still vulnerable people in our community and we still don’t have all the data regarding long COVID. Only thinking about yourself, disregarding those who do not feel comfortable without a mask is the opposite of cura personalis. As for CAPS, I absolutely agree! But I disagree with the idea that Georgetown is taking money that could be used for CAPS and putting it towards COVID protection; CAPS has always been severely underfunded and underserved, even before the pandemic. Georgetown’s mismanagement of its funding and priorities should not be blamed entirely on COVID protection processes, which are in place so that we can actually be back in person and protect those who are most vulnerable in our communities. I hope you and all those making the false equivalence between CAPS and COVID protection can see that it is possible (and necessary) to have both. Also, if you want to get rid of these COVID protection measures, I think the best thing to do would be to wear a mask until this is all over; not wearing a mask only increases the spread of COVID and prolongs the pandemic, making it necessary for Georgetown to spend all this money on protection measures for longer periods of time.
Joseph Massaua • Apr 11, 2022 at 4:51 pm
Isabel, I appreciate your response and the time you took to write it–I admit my first comment was hastily written and I do not want to further the false equivalency between CAPS and Covid-Funding.
However, with that being said, I strongly believe that the University’s Covid Funding could best be employed elsewhere–perhaps by defunding nearly the entire program aside from testing and hand sanitizer supplies and providing that to facilities maintenance or CAPS.
What are the benchmarks for the end of Covid? By all accounts B.A.2 is a blip in the caseload compared to omicron, which increased cases far past Delta levels but not hospitalizations since so all of Georgetown University was vaccinated. I fear that if we do not take concrete steps to signal that the end of the pandemic has arrived, we may never find an end and the Overton window will stretch the shadow of the future restrictions until the fall with the class of 2026.
It is true that we do not know enough about the effects of “long-Covid” but to do a cost-benefit analysis, I believe that it is more beneficial to end the mandate and keep a mask-optional policy. Many students continued to wear their masks during the maskless March initiative and indeed it was their prerogative to do so and protect themselves! Cases rose at Georgetown following the removal of the mandate, but we still do not know if it was correlation or causation.
An issue I see with Georgetown’s Covid policy is an unwillingness to abandon the policy from March-December 2020 of “Covid-Zero”–indeed still present in China to this day. Covid is a threat certainly, but it is much less of one on a fully vaccinated and boosted campus. Georgetown must adopt CDC and District Health recommendations as we are perhaps one of the MOST vaccinated populations in the district per capita. We must encounter Covid as it comes and research has shown the effect of mask mandates on caseload to be negligible. Mandates indeed harm some of the most-vulnerable students they aim to protect and are not a “one-size fits all” solution. The neighborhoods surrounding DC hold a significant elderly population (thus at higher risk) but this past weekend at Holy Trinity’s 11:30 Palm Sunday Mass a large number of them were not wearing masks. Were I to have attended Sunday Mass at Dahlgren, I and the 100s of other majority young and healthy students would have to wear masks, while just outside our gates there is a different story.
However, the moral hazard and signaling of an unwillingness to move toward a “Living with Covid” policy TWO YEARS into a pandemic is extremely grave.
Indeed, student disappoval and malaise for Covid administrative policies is at an all time high and more students, faculty, and staff have been hospitalized from mental health struggles (or norovirus!!) then from complications due to Covid-19, which the University has not acknowledged.
I empathize strongly with your fear of Covid, I myself am still frightened of contracting it myself with an immune system suppressed by medication. But the options for treatment are efficacious and available–especially the new pill, so I urge you to stay strong, we are almost through it. Thank you.
Isabel Janovsky • Apr 11, 2022 at 8:39 pm
Thank you for your response.
I agree that the services that CAPS provides is essential for students, especially as mental health has significantly declined over the course of the pandemic. I am not advocating for the “COVID-Zero” policy you talk about in China. The consequences of this policy, for families and workers and the economy, far outweighs the benefits of completing stamping out a disease that, as demonstrated, is impossible to fully eradicate.
Firstly, BA.2 is not over, though it definitely looks as if it will not be as destructive as Omicron. The pandemic is not over, we can’t take steps to signal the end of an event that has not concluded. This NYT article describes the point at which we reach the endemic phase of the pandemic, specifically stating that “we are still in the acute phase of the pandemic” (citing the WHO). https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/04/07/world/covid-19-mandates-cases-vaccine#what-it-means-for-a-pandemic-like-covid-to-become-endemic
As for the mask-optional policy, I can see some arguments for public spaces that are optional, like Yates or Leo’s. I do not believe, however, that we are at the point where the desire those who don’t want to wear a mask for an hour and fifteen minute long class supersedes the need for others to protect their health or the health of those they live with. I also place a higher priority on not getting a potentially disabling disease than putting a piece of fabric over my mouth. As for not knowing about complications from COVID, I know several people who have struggled after having COVID to return to how they were living before, even if they weren’t hospitalized. It is absolutely an issue that people are being hospitalized for mental health crises, and Georgetown has never done enough to help those suffering from mental health crises (as demonstrated by the Black Survivor’s Coalition protests in 2020 right before the pandemic). But you are bringing in two different discussions – without addressing both COVID and mental health crises, we are never going to be able to properly address either of them.
I agree that masks are not a “one size fits all” solution. As I said in the article, it is one thing if masks severely impede communication and we need to adjust our practices for such conversations. But the mask optional policy also harms those who are concerned about their health. Not all disabled people can be lumped into one category, this is a complex territory to navigate where we need to balance people’s health and other people’s need for communication, both of which are extremely important. Just saying “okay mask optional good luck,” doesn’t take into account those who are concerned about their health.
Georgetown has definitely abandoned its Covid-Zero policy – over 200 people tested positive last week and the positivity rate is at 6%. They haven’t closed Leo’s to indoor dining, Yates is still open regular hours, people are less willing to comply with requirements, and DiGoia himself tested positive. He tested positive, by the way, because he was at an event where no one was masked and many had come from the other super-spreader event in DC.
I’d also like to see the “research” you are referring to when you say it has “shown the effect of mask mandates on caseload to be negligible.” I have been in several situations where people around me got COVID but I didn’t because I was wearing a mask. I also attend Shabbat services, where I wear a mask. My parents, who are older, have not been able to attend synagogue in two years because of COVID, and they’re not going to start risking their health for it now, especially when masks are optional.
I was in New York City with my parents for a year and a half of the pandemic. I listened to ambulances drive by in an empty city as my friends and their families contracted COVID. Simply giving up would be a disservice to those who died, those who were sick, and those who cared for the sick during those days.
If you want to discuss this more, please feel free to email me at my netID. Thank you.
Andrew • Apr 8, 2022 at 8:54 am
And what about the Hearing Impaired and others who cannot function easily nor learn well with the mask mandate? Of course the presumptuous author assumes they know more than the CDC and other public health experts. This ableist article should be taken down.
Isabel Janovsky • Apr 9, 2022 at 11:59 am
I specifically made an attempt to address the question of masks hindering communication. I said exactly what the CDC says about accommodating people who are hearing impaired, if you would care to actually read the CDC’s website. I agree that it is a huge issue that people who are hearing impaired are limited in their communication with masks. My question is: why wasn’t the university making exemptions or finding ways to accommodate those who were hard of hearing before? Why is this suddenly only an issue now? The reality is that the pandemic has forced us to choose between two different problems facing disabled people. Thousands of people have been permanently disabled from long COVID and it has been officially labeled as a disability by the Department of Education. So I really don’t know what you’re talking about with public health experts and the CDC because you haven’t 1) cited anyone saying anything 2) done your research about how to accommodate both those who are hard of hearing and those who are immunocompromised. Right now, what I am hearing is that you would prefer that students and professors get sick, miss weeks of class, potentially develop a lifelong disability, rather than work with both groups of people to figure out a solution that poses the least health risk while enabling the most communication. I actually spent a long time talking to different administrators, people in the disabled community at georgetown (of which I am a part, before you accuse me of being ableist) and looking at the data of rising cases and what this means for the immunocompromised. I hope one day you can spend enough time trying to figure out the complexities of an issue before accusing people (who are disabled) of being ableist.