As of Wednesday, July 1, Brock University is requiring that anyone entering on-campus buildings wear a non-medical face covering if they’re able to.

Anyone entering Brock’s main St. Catharines campus through one of the two available entry points, or other Brock campuses, must have a minimum of a fabric mask covering their mouth and nose. Exceptions will be made for those individuals for whom wearing a face covering poses health concern or other issues as described below.

While these non-medical masks (sometimes referred to as community protective equipment) are not required to be worn in single-person offices, however face coverings must be worn when maintaining two metres of physical distance is not possible or predictable, such as hallways, elevators, classrooms and restrooms.

Even if you don’t have symptoms, Niagara Region Public Health says wearing a face covering may be an added way to protect others around you, particularly where physical distancing may be a challenge.

The Human Resources Department’s Health, Safety and Wellness team has put together a toolbox on its Sharepoint site with more information on how to safely use non-medical face coverings.

The University has ordered Brock-branded reusable fabric face coverings and expects them to arrive in the coming weeks. These will be made available without cost to those who need to be on campus, and will also be available for sale in the Campus Store.

In the meantime, disposable non-medical face coverings will be available for those who need them at the designated campus entry points, which include the Rankin Family Pavilion and the east entrance to the Roy and Lois Cairns Health and Bioscience Research Complex. Those two entrances also serve as health checkpoints, where Campus Security staff are administrating a basic health screening tool provided by Niagara Region Public Health. In addition to a face covering, identification is required to continue into Brock buildings.

Important to note is that there are exemptions from the face covering requirement if:

• The person is unable to wear the face covering because it would inhibit their breathing for medical reasons.
• The person cannot safely wear a face covering for any other medical reasons, such as having respiratory disease, cognitive difficulties, or difficulties in hearing or processing information.
• For religious reasons, the person cannot wear a face covering or cannot wear a face covering in a manner which would properly control the source.
• The person is a child under the age of two.

These new regulations are separate from existing rules around personal protective equipment (PPE) required for use in University research labs and other areas.

For more updates on Brock’s COVID-19 response, please visit brocku.ca/coronavirus