Several DC universities reinstate indoor mask mandate as COVID cases rise

WASHINGTON - Several colleges in the D.C. region are bringing back indoor mask mandates to try and slow a rise in COVID-19 cases.

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FOX 5's Sierra Fox says starting Tuesday, masks will be required again on campus at George Washington University and at American University.

School officials say ever since students returned from spring break they've been seeing a jump in cases, fox reports.

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Last week, Georgetown reinstated their mask mandates. Also last week, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore brought back their mask rules.

The new outbreaks seem to be as a result of a combination of factors including the relaxing of guidelines in February and March, the resuming of social activities and large gatherings on campus, and the rise of the new highly transmissible COVID-19 variants and sub-variant.

FOX says Georgetown University is requiring students to take a PCR test after Easter break the week of April 18th unless they have tested positive within the previous 90 days.

Johns Hopkins is moving to twice-weekly testing for all undergraduate students for the next two weeks until April 22nd.

Every university is offering free masks. At this time, it's not clear for how much longer the requirement will remain in place for each campus.