On Feb. 15, the state of California will end its indoor mask mandate.  

Regardless, American River College and the Los Rios Community College District will continue to enforce a mask mandate for all students and faculty who are on-campus. 

Scott Crow, ARC’s communications and public information officer, says that the decision to keep the mandate is to preserve the safety of all ARC attendees.

“The updated guidance from the State of California will not immediately impact the Los Rios mask requirement, though throughout the pandemic the district has taken its lead from public health experts,” Crow said in an email to the Current.

Crow says that all information about the decision to keep the mandate will be available to the public soon. Any decision to further update the LRCCD mask policy will be decided with the help of local health experts and officials. 

“In the weeks ahead, Los Rios expects to evaluate all available information including recommendations from state and local public health experts and make an assessment about the mask requirement at the colleges,” Crow said. 

To stay up to date on the school’s COVID-19 policies such as masks, vaccines and other updates, visit the ARC COVID-19 updates website here.