February 10, 2022

Dear CSU community,

As you are all aware, Larimer County has made the decision—in conversation with national, state and local public health officials — to lift its mask requirement effective this Saturday, February 12. When this news was made public, I asked the CSU Pandemic Preparedness Team to assess our own mask mandate on all our campuses. I then made an informed recommendation to Chancellor Frank which he has approved.

Effective immediately, Colorado State University will follow the Centers for Disease Control guidelines for high-transmission areas on all our campuses in Larimer County. This means that we will continue to require masks in all indoor areas until the Larimer County transmission levels fall below “substantial” as set forth by the CDC.

The PPT will reassess transmission levels each Friday. When the community transmission level falls below “substantial,” we will adjust our mask requirement for campus and masking will be optional in all campus spaces. Colorado State University operations outside of Larimer County should follow local health protocols for their area. An overview of the CDC definitions of substantial/moderate/low transmission levels can be found on the covid.colostate.edu site.

With this decision, we are being absolutely consistent with our practice as an institution of using rigorous, public-health-data-driven, inclusive decision-making in response to the Covid pandemic. The leaders of the PPT have met with the Teaching Continuity and Recovery Team, leadership of Faculty Council, ASCSU, Classified Personnel Council, Administrative Professional Council, and Inclusive Excellence offices, including the Student Disability Center, to hear perspectives about the mask mandate and what resources will serve our students, faculty, and staff best as masking becomes optional.

Throughout the past two years, the CSU community has been remarkably strong, flexible, adaptable, and patient. As Black and African American Cultural Center Director Duan Ruff notes in our introductory Courageous Strategic Transformation video, “No one alive has lived through what we’ve lived through.”

Please know how proud I am of this community, and how grateful.  The PPT will share more detailed information about information about masks and public health guidance on our campuses in the coming days so please watch your email for that communication.

Sincerely,

Joyce McConnell, President