Dyersburg State Community College began classes today with a mask mandate

Jackson, TN.

As classes begin here at Dyersburg State Community College, hear what this administration and staff is doing to keep their campus safe.

To be proactive in keeping COVID numbers low on this campus. College President Karen Bowyer has decided to enforce a mask mandate for the fall semester. Here is her reasoning for the mandate. “The hospitals are full, and it’s an alarming increase in the rate of infection. Of course—not as many people vaccinated as we’d like. So we’ve decided to require masks for the fall semester.”

There are temperature stations at the entrance of each building stocked with masks, hand sanitizers, and someone to check your temperature. Hear what this employee had to say about the mask mandate. “Personally, I’m not that comfortable in the mask. But I think when you’re on a school property. There are so many people here. You have to be safe for the other people here. For the students, the teachers, so they can continue to come in.”

While some school districts have faced backlash from angry parents who believe wearing a mask is taking away their children’s rights. This campus seems to be all on-board with the decision. President Bowyer stated, “No backlash, no calls, no emails from parents. We’ve had masks required signs up. We did take them down thinking we could start fall semester without requiring them, but when things got so bad we decided we couldn’t.

Nursing student here at Dyersburg State Community College shared his views on the mask mandate. “Everyone I’ve seen has been wearing masks, even wearing them correctly. It’s not been an issue. Now there’s so many different designs and uniqueness in the masks that everyone just chooses one, or you can just pick one of the regular face masks. It’s not a problem to just put a mask on.”