Troy University is starting to make the transition back to normal life after a year of COVID restrictions.

The university recently made a major change by lifting mask requirements in preparation for returning to normal operations.

“The number of active cases are trending down,” says Senior Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Dr. Lance Tatum. “The number of hospitalizations within the state are trending down. The number of individuals who are being vaccinated is trending up. So all those things would indicate that we’re in a really good position to be able to come back in fall semester to something that is a little bit more what is expected in terms of normalcy.”

Troy University is still encouraging students to stay at home if they feel sick but there is no more mandatory face covering requirement and class structure is expected to return to normal this fall.

“We’re going back to what we would consider to be a more normal behavior for students, faculty and staff,” says Tatum. “Which means that there won’t be any mandates or guidelines related to face coverings or distancing. We’ll ask students to take precautions. If they’re feeling sick not to come to class like we would always do but the idea is that we’re not going to mandate the face coverings or we’re not going to organize classrooms in such a way that we pod or that we social distance in those classrooms.”

For more information on the university’s COVID guidelines you can visit troy.edu/coronavirus. Also to set up a vaccination on campus you can visit covid.troy.edu.

For the full story watch Sarah’s report.