UWOFA Calls for Health Protocol Clarification

Classes begin in three weeks, and members are busy at work finalizing course outlines, but UWOFA is still waiting for confirmation regarding the Covid health protocols which will be in place on campus to keep our community safe.

The most recent announcement in June indicated that masks would no longer be required indoors at Western and the affiliated colleges, and UWOFA expressed its dismay at the premature lifting of that health protection. Mandatory masking has been one of the many important public health mitigations which have helped to keep our campus community safe, particularly when combined with high vaccination rates. UWOFA continues to advocate for mandatory indoor masking.

The pandemic is not over, as community spread levels are currently high in parts of the province. Pandemic deaths here in London this year are on track to exceed 2021 statistics, according to a July 28th report from the CBC.

According to Marylou Albanese, the MLHU’s director of environmental health and infectious disease control, “regardless of what people are doing and what the law requires, the MLHU is still recommending people regularly mask when outside their regular social circles, wash their hands and keep a safe distance from others in order to avoid spreading the virus.”

UWOFA supports this recommendation and encourages members to follow it.