Tulane announced it is reinstituting an indoor mask mandate for all students, faculty and staff, regardless of vaccination status, as a result of more omicron cases being identified within the Tulane community. 

The first case of the omicron variant in the Tulane community was identified on Dec. 6, a short time after the first case of the variant was detected in the state of Louisiana on Dec. 3. The most recent statement reinstituting the indoor mask mandate is a reversal from the Dec. 6 statement, which declared that the university judged existing protocols — vaccination status and frequent testing — as sufficient to protect against the spread of the new variant. 

The indoor mask mandate was lifted on Oct. 28, the first time since the following summer that students could enter the classroom without wearing mouth coverings. In recognition that students may no longer possess a mask, the university advised that “there are free mask dispensers in many campus buildings and [students] can also purchase masks at most vending machines, and at the bookstore on the uptown campus.”