FAYETTEVILLE -- Early plans for the spring semester include keeping an indoor mask requirement at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, while the top official for the Arkansas State University System has said that "relaxed protocols" for the spring would be considered.
Most public university students around the state this fall have been directed to wear face coverings in classrooms and indoor shared spaces as part of an effort to reduce the spread of covid-19.
In August, the state's two largest university systems announced face covering plans within days of a Pulaski County circuit judge's order temporarily blocking an anti-masking law passed by state lawmakers. The legal challenge to the state law remains pending.
Spokesmen for UA and the ASU System said that no final decisions have yet been made for the upcoming spring semester, but officials have disclosed some planning information about the spring.
"Earlier in the semester, we said we would plan for a [spring] semester the same," UA Interim Provost Terry Martin said Wednesday, speaking at a meeting of the university's faculty senate. "So right now, that's everybody with the mask in the classrooms."
UA in August announced its face covering requirement after a resolution from the 10-member University of Arkansas Board of Trustees.
The UA System trustees board referenced the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which on its website recommends face coverings for anyone older than two not fully vaccinated or fully vaccinated but in an area "with substantial or high transmission."
In Arkansas, a majority of counties were considered as of earlier last week to have "high" or "substantial" covid-19 transmission, while five -- Monroe, Chicot, Calhoun, Columbia and Little River counties -- were considered as having "moderate" transmission.
The UA System trustees board directed campuses to implement face covering policies "regardless of vaccination status" for indoor public settings where physical distancing cannot be assured "in accordance with CDC guidance regarding the covid-19 Delta variant."
Martin on Wednesday referred to "the new variant" and said covid-19 transmission is being monitored.
"Now that it's winter, the Delta variant could possibly change things between now and the start of semester," Martin said. "But we'll monitor it, and we'll have some more permanent information as we go forward."
UA spokesman Mark Rushing in an email Thursday said that recommendations from local health officials, the CDC and the state Department of Health, as well as direction from the UA System office and the board of trustees, are all factors in the university's spring plans, as well as "the status of the pandemic on campus and in the community."
The most recent data from the university listed 23 active cases, including 15 student cases, seven staff members and one faculty member.
Active cases surged in late August to more than 190, according to university data, but have remained below 40 going back to October.
Unlike last year, UA is planning for a week-long spring break, from March 21-25. Rushing said no changes are anticipated for the university's spring break.
ASU System President Chuck Welch on Dec. 3 told the seven-person ASU System Board of Trustees that recent weeks have been "better" when it comes to the pandemic.
"The campuses have been visiting with me about a very different spring and relaxed protocols and some maybe different approaches," Welch told trustees. "And barring, you know, massive increases with the new variant over the coming month or so, we may be looking at a very different spring."
Jeff Hankins, a spokesman for the ASU System, said in an email that all campuses in the ASU System currently require face coverings in classrooms.
For each campus, "chancellors were given authority by the board on these matters," Hankins said. The ASU System includes ASU and Henderson State University, as well as five two-year colleges.