New mask mandate on campus

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

To the Mount Holyoke and South Hadley communities:

On Monday, November 2, Gov. Charlie Baker announced a series of targeted interventions to slow the spread of COVID-19 in Massachusetts. These include:

  • Implementation of a stay-at-home advisory from the hours of 10 pm to 5 am. 
  • A curfew which will end all in person gatherings at 9:30 pm.
  • A requirement that everyone over the age of 5 wear a face covering in public whether indoors or outdoors

To comply with these restrictions, which go into effect on Friday, November 6 at 12:01 am, we will require everyone on our campus grounds to wear a face covering, even where they are able to maintain a six foot distance from others. Campus signage will soon be updated to reflect this. 

We are committed to protecting campus and community safety. Our campus buildings, including the art museum, library, field house and greenhouse, are still closed to the public. In addition, visitors are not allowed into campus buildings for any reason, including needing a restroom. 

We will continue to update the community as new interventions are announced or modified. 

Your collaboration and cooperation with these safety measures will help us stem the tide of COVID-19 infections in our community and in Massachusetts. We all look forward to the time when these measures are no longer necessary and appreciate your attention to these requirements. 

Sincerely,

Shannon D. Gurek
Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer