Students at Binghamton University have been required to wear masks on campus since the fall 2020 semester, but soon that may change.

On Sunday, Feb. 27, New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that the statewide order requiring students to wear masks while inside school buildings would end on March 2. The decision to impose mandates has now been left to local officials of each respective school district. In a recent press conference, New York City Mayor Eric Adams introduced a plan to phase out the city’s vaccine requirement for restaurants, bars and other indoor settings by the end of this week. As of Feb. 28, the state’s seven-day positivity rate is under 2 percent, the lowest it has been since last summer. Additionally, over 75 percent of the population in New York are fully vaccinated according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In response, the SUNY website has updated its guidance, allowing individual campuses to lift mask mandates upon consultation with local health partners and CDC guidelines. SUNY Cortland and SUNY Stony Brook have already announced they will do so effective Wednesday, March 2.

In a recent B-Line announcement, BU President Harvey Stenger set late March as a tentative deadline for deciding whether to remove the University’s indoor mask mandate.

“We have decided we will defer a decision on lifting the indoor mask mandate until March 26, five days following the end of spring break,” Stenger wrote in the email. “If, at that time, Broome County and [BU] are in the medium or low transmission categories, masks will no longer be required in indoor spaces on campus.”

Ryan Yarosh, senior director of media and public relations at BU, confirmed that the mask mandate is still in effect for the time being.

“The [CDC] revised its mask guidelines late last week,” Yarosh wrote in an email. “However, based on the number of hospital beds being used, hospital admissions and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in the county, Broome County remains an area where it is still recommended to wear a well-fitting mask indoors in public, regardless of vaccination status or individual risk.”

While the majority of New York state, including New York City, has a low level of transmission, Broome County is one of a handful of counties that still falls into the high-level category, according to the latest CDC data from the seven-day period ending March 2. As Yarosh wrote, the CDC recommends individuals living in high-risk areas to wear masks indoors, including in school settings.

According to the CDC website, Broome County’s rolling seven-day positivity rate is 5.45 percent as of March 2. Just over two-thirds of Broome County residents are vaccinated, compared to 99 percent of BU’s student population.

According to a press release from the Binghamton City School District’s website, despite this data, masks will not be required much longer in the Binghamton City School District.

“Effective this Wednesday, masks will be optional in all Binghamton City School District buildings and buses,” the press release reads. “Thank you to our students and staff for their diligence and patience as we continue to follow the guidelines and requirements of New York state and our local health department.”

The Binghamton City School District wrote that even without mandatory masks, there are other measures that are still important in being able to stop the spread of COVID-19.

“We will continue to support those who choose to wear masks, along with the other mitigating measures such as testing and social distancing until advised otherwise by the state and local health departments,” the press release reads.

Some students at BU are conflicted by Hochul’s decision and the response it has prompted from the University.

Felicia Fiacco, an undeclared freshman, believes it is important to be patient in easing restrictions.

“You have to get back to normal at some point, but you can’t just flip the switch, you have to gradually ease into it,” Fiacco wrote in an email. “If [the University] doesn’t gradually try to social distance without masks on, they are just going to go back to mask mandates.”

Some students are ready to do away with masks all together. Nicolas Costello, a junior majoring in business administration, said it is time for the mandate to end.

“The University should consider relaxing or even completely removing the mask mandate,” Costello wrote. “There are no longer mask mandates in [New York state], and if masks aren’t required anywhere off campus it does not make sense to require them on campus.”

Aaron Berkowitz, a sophomore majoring in art history, said masks are still important but should not be required in all indoor settings on campus.

“I believe that people should still have their masks indoors for classes as people are really right on top of each other,” Berkowitz wrote in an email. “However, when it comes to possibly being in a more open space like the library and you have distance from other people, I think it would be OK to have your mask down. The same concept holds true in places like the dining hall or Marketplace.”