UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Face masks are now required to be worn indoors on five additional Penn State campuses, in accordance with public health guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that advises that masks be worn in counties with high COVID-19 Community Levels.

Effective Tuesday, May 31, face masks will be required indoors at Penn State Beaver, Greater Allegheny, New Kensington, Schuylkill and University Park because they are located in counties with high COVID-19 Community Levels. The University previously announced that masks are required at Penn State Abington, Behrend, Brandywine, Great Valley, Hazleton, Lehigh Valley, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. Additionally, at this time, the College of Medicine continues to require masks indoors in alignment with Penn State Health to support patient care.  

The CDC’s county-by-county COVID-19 Community Levels are “a new tool to help communities decide what prevention steps to take based on the latest data.” Levels can be low (green), medium (yellow) or high (orange), and are based on the number of new COVID-19 cases in each county as well as new hospital admissions and hospital capacity. 

• Green counties: CDC recommendations call for individuals to stay up-to-date on their vaccinations and to get tested if they have symptoms of COVID-19. 
• Yellow counties: The recommendations advise those who are at high risk for severe illness to talk to their healthcare provider about their individual need to wear a face mask. 
• Orange counties: CDC recommends all individuals wear a mask indoors. 

Currently, 28 counties in Pennsylvania are in orange status and 24 are in yellow.

The status of each county is updated on the CDC website on Thursdays. When a county home to a Penn State campus moves from yellow to orange or vice versa, the campus will communicate with students, faculty and staff when the change in masking policy will take effect.