Johns Hopkins, Georgetown universities reinstate COVID-19 measures, mask mandates
Source: wtop
Two universities in the D.C. region said on Wednesday that they will be bringing back a temporary mask mandate following an increase in coronavirus cases among students. Georgetown University in D.C. and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore will add additional COVID-19 mitigation measures to help combat the case increase as well.
snip
Masks at Johns Hopkins University will now be required in residence and dining halls, with an exception for eating and drinking. This is in addition to masking requirements in all classrooms. Johns Hopkins will also test all undergraduate students twice-weekly through April 22. The policy will then be reevaluation to determine whether the increased testing remains necessary.
Vice Provost for Student Health and Well-Being Kevin Shollenberger said Hopkins is reacting to a steep increase in COVID-19 cases since Spring Break, “we have received reports of COVID cases among undergraduates who have recently traveled or who were exposed to someone who has recently traveled.” Almost 100 undergraduate students have tested positive for the virus since April 1, according to the university. Most students who tested positive are asymptomatic, while the rest are experiencing mild symptoms.
Read more: https://wtop.com/coronavirus/2022/04/johns-hopkins-georgetown-universities-reinstate-covid-19-measures-mask-mandates/
= new reply since forum marked as read
We have been through this SIX TIMES and it's like that meme about the "definition of insanity". 
Philly’s indoor mask mandate likely to return next week, as city COVID-19 cases creep upward
by Felicia Gans Sobey, John Duchneskie, and Jason Laughlin
Updated Apr 6, 2022
Philadelphia is poised to reinstate its indoor mask mandate next week as COVID-19 cases climb again. An Inquirer analysis showed the most current COVID case counts and the percent increase of cases both meet the city’s benchmarks that would trigger the return of the mask mandate for public indoor spaces. The Philadelphia Department of Public Health agreed with the analysis. “What we see and know is cases are rising,” said James Garrow, a spokesperson for the department. “People should start taking precautions now.”
The Inquirer analysis isn’t predictive, and it is possible that key metrics triggering the return of the mask mandate could decrease by Monday. It’s “certainly possible,” Garrow said, but the city has not yet reached the peak of the case increase that appears to be building now. The city will review Monday’s hospitalization numbers and the last seven days of case counts to decide whether to change policies. The COVID data are not alarming enough to warrant an immediate change in the city’s mask policies, though, he said. The city has said it would announce changes to its COVID safety requirements on Mondays, and an announcement on whether mask requirements would return would likely come then, Garrow said.
If the COVID metrics stay around where they are now, or increase, the health department could choose not to resume mandating masks indoors, he said, but it’s unlikely. “It’s possible,” Garrow said, “but it certainly is not my personal preference.” If brought back, the mask mandate would apply to schools in the city as well. Spring break is April 11 to 15, and the city had already stipulated that masks would be required in schools for the following week, from April 18 to 22. The department created a tiered alert system earlier this year to provide a framework for when precautions would increase or ease, and will likely stick to it, he said.
The department may announce the return of the mask mandate Monday but delay implementing it for a few days, Garrow said, to give businesses time to adapt. Since March, the city has been in response level 1 — “All Clear” — which does not require masks apart from some narrow exceptions, including public transportation. On Monday, the health department recommended people start masking indoors again, without requiring it.
https://www.inquirer.com/health/philadelphia-mask-mandate-covid-cases-20220406.html
As a note, I was at my car dealership out in the Philly 'burbs yesterday to get the car inspected and to have some routine maintenance on it (oil/filter change, tire rotation, etc) and wore my N95. No one in there, whether employees or the couple other customers there were masked (and I was surprised there were only a couple people there in the waiting area, and after an hour, I was the only one for a long time). The county where the dealer is never had a mandate although they ironically had registered the very first COVID-19 case in the state of PA back in March 2020.