Community members will no longer be required to wear a mask in athletic facilities, libraries, residential halls, and dining halls.

Chief Wellness Officer Benoit Dubé told the DP that the University is working in conjunction with the City of Philadelphia to determine whether it is safe to reverse the mask mandate.

Effective immediately, masks are no longer required indoors, with exceptions for the “higher-risk” settings of schools, healthcare institutions, congregate settings, and public transportation. 

The University will extend the deadline to Mar. 14 for those who are eligible for a booster shot to upload their information.

Pennsylvania’s average new daily case count this week was the lowest it has been since August, and its hospitalization rate the lowest since September.

Chief Wellness Officer Benoit Dubé told The Daily Pennsylvanian that the incentives were created to encourage "good behaviors and smart choices" and to further foster a "community of care." 

University administrators wrote that the requirement to double-mask or use a KN95, N95, or KF95 mask in campus buildings is now reversed. They added that wearing masks indoors is still required.

Seventeen bus routes will undergo slight frequency reductions, and those resources will be shifted to other routes with greater ridership.

In response to the favorable trends across the Penn community, particularly undergraduates, the University announced that indoor social gatherings and event registration can resume.

With positive COVID-19 cases among undergraduate students continuing to soar, more students than ever need advice on what to do after receiving a positive test result.

A total of 757 community members tested positive for COVID-19 during the week of Jan. 30 to Feb. 5 — continuing a three-week increasing trend.

President Biden promised to mail 500 million free, at-home rapid COVID-19 tests to Americans. Since Jan. 18, individuals have been able to request up to four tests per household online.

According to Philadelphia Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole, most Philadelphians have not yet received the booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine which is necessary to combat the Omicron variant.

Students who report their positive test can expect instant information and answers from PennOpen Pass and will automatically be put on the Penn Wellness team’s radar.

Some students said that they felt the University's COVID-19 policies — such as double-masking, testing, and isolation — are not being enforced with enough rigor.

In a Feb. 1 email, Penn announced that the restriction on indoor social gatherings and event registration will remain, citing the doubling of COVID-19 positivity among undergraduate students. 

Citing Penn’s almost 100% vaccination rate and recent campus record high positivity rates, the petition demands the University remove the booster shot requirement.