7/16/21 - Yesterday's L.A. County Announcement

Dear Southwestern Students,

As you may have heard, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced yesterday that it will be issuing a new Health Officer Order providing that, effective Saturday, July 17 at 11:59 pm, everyone, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, will be required to wear a mask at all times when indoors.  This Order comes in response to the seven-fold increase L.A. County has seen in new daily cases of Covid-19 since June 15, an increase thought to be driven in large part by the Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus.

We are in the process of determining what implications the new County Order and the recent upward trends in the key Covid-19 indicators will have for Southwestern’s plans for fall instruction.  We will be consulting with student leaders and the faculty in the coming days and will have more information to share at next week’s Virtual Town Halls. 

We are certainly mindful of the pedagogical challenges that may be presented by a universal indoors masking requirement.  As always, protecting the health and safety of our community remains our foremost priority.

Best,

Dean Darby Dickerson, Vice Dean Anahid Gharakhanian, and Vice Dean Dov Waisman