University of Waterloo will not mandate masks, vaccines in fall

The University of Waterloo will not mandate masks when students return to campus in September. 

The school also announced COVID vaccinations will not be required, but strongly recommended.

Nick Manning is the associate vice-president, communications at the university. He explained the school's decision to not require mask wearing on campus.

“We're conscious of the environment, generally that we're in right now,” Manning said. “There aren't public health requirements in general, in public, right now for mask wearing. We want to be mindful of the situation that the rest of the province is in.”

Meanwhile, Laurier has mandated mask wearing in some instructional spaces, although vaccination will remain optional as well. 

UW is recommending that students wear masks, and asking students to be respectful of one another.

“We support your choice to wear a mask, similarly right now if you choose not to wear a mask, we support and respect that decision too,” said Manning. “We want to be clear though, we are strongly recommending that if you are going to come to our campuses, that you consider wearing a mask.”

The university will continue to look at the data when considering its policies going forward. If Waterloo were to reimpose mask or vaccine mandates, students would receive ample notice beforehand.

“We're going to continue to monitor the pandemic, and if the situation does mean that we need to bring back a requirement to wear a mask, then we'll do that,” Manning said. “But, for now we're confident that the people in our community will understand what's necessary to stay safe.”

For more details on the University of Waterloo's plan, you can click here.