March 9th, 2022 by WCBC Radio

Frostburg State University will continue to require masks and other COVID-19 protocols for the time being.  FSU President Dr. Ron Nowaczyk recently updated the campus with this message:

As we continue to monitor state, local and campus COVID indicators, it is notable that conditions are improving across all metrics in our area. As you may be aware, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new community transmission guidance on February 24th that serves as a decision-making matrix for our consideration regarding campus mitigation efforts. Although the CDC community level map appears to be updated weekly each Thursday or Friday, data from Allegany County can be tracked daily.

To be considered “low” transmission, the county must meet the following metrics over the past seven days:

• Metric 1:  case rates below 200 cases per 100,000 population
• Metric 2:  new COVID hospitalizations below 10 per 100,000 population
• Metric 3:  sustain the percent of inpatient beds occupied by COVID patients at less than 10%

While most of Maryland is in “low” transmission, Allegany County remains in “medium” transmission based on one of the three key metrics. Allegany County is currently “low” in metrics one and three but remains at “medium” for metric two. We are also monitoring levels in contiguous counties. Garrett County moved from “medium” transmission last week to “high” transmission this week.

Based on our current conditions and a brief meeting with the leadership of our three governance groups, the university community will continue to require masks indoors in the presence of others. The Recovery team and Executive Committee have recommended that we monitor these metrics through Spring Break. We are asking anyone who travels during the spring break to participate in COVID testing upon your return.  Of course, testing is available to all in the campus community.

We will review our position the week after Spring Break. If we are confident in state, local and campus community transmission levels at that time, we will consider modifying our policies on masking and testing for the remainder of the semester as conditions dictate.