USC now requiring students to wear masks indoors this fall

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – The University of South Carolina is requiring students to wear masks indoors this fall as the spread of COVID-19 has sped up across the state.

School officials said Friday that masks are again required inside campus buildings given Richland County’s high coronavirus transmission rate.

The announcement follows recently updated federal guidance that calls for mask-wearing indoors regardless of vaccination status in areas where the delta variant is rapidly spreading.

Young adults have the lowest vaccination rate across age groups in South Carolina.

But public colleges and universities in South Carolina can’t require students to get inoculated after lawmakers banned schools from making the vaccine a condition of enrollment.