With concerns about fall return of Penn State students, State College to look at masking rules

“If that’s going to be typical, I just think in a college town, we’re ripe for spread, community spread."

• Anne Danahy
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Anne Danahy has been a reporter at WPSU since fall 2017. She was a reporter for nearly 12 years at the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pennsylvania, where she earned a number of awards for her coverage of issues including the impact of natural gas development on communities.
  
  She earned a bachelor's degree in communications from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and a master's in media studies from Penn State.
  
  She worked as a writer at Penn State, including with the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute. She’s a volunteer host at C-NET, Centre County's government-education access station.

 Emily Reddy / WPSU

A line outside Doggie's Pub on Pugh Street in State College July 11, 2020.

(State College) — Young people, many not wearing masks, lined up outside several bars in downtown State College Saturday.

Those scenes — Penn State students socializing, but not social distancing — have many local residents worried about what the fall semester could bring. In response, the borough is looking into its options for enforcing mask-wearing in public places.

Penn State is preparing to bring students back to its campuses for fall semester, and the busy downtown scene this past weekend in State College added to many local residents’ concerns about controlling the spread of COVID-19.

“If that’s going to be typical, I just think in a college town, we’re ripe for spread, community spread,” said Deirdre O’Sullivan, who is on the faculty at Penn State and lives in town, near fraternities.

Gene J. Puskar / AP Photo

FILE PHOTO: A Penn State student walks in the rain past Old Main on the Penn State main campus in State College, Pa., Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015.

“The biggest concern for me is student behavior is a wild card. I think even the most competent and well-resourced administrations at universities can only do so much,” she said.

Penn State has outlined steps it’s taking, including requiring masks and ending in-person classes around Thanksgiving.

Jesse Barlow, president of State College borough council, noted that so far Centre County has been fairly well-protected from the coronavirus. As of Monday, there were 251 known cases in Centre County, up from 243 the day before, according to the state Department of Health.

“We’re very concerned that there will be a huge spike when students come back,” Barlow said.

The borough is developing an ordinance to enforce the state’s mask-wearing order. That’s scheduled for council’s agenda Aug. 4.

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