NORTHWEST
MISSOURIAN
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2021
MARYVILLE, MISSOURI
NWMISSOURINEWS.COM
VOL. 110, NO. 10
@THEMISSOURIAN
MASK OFF? Northwest modifies mandate for vaccinated individuals
Northwest employee insurance raised for next year SIDNEY LOWRY News Editor | @sidney_lowry
Staff and faculty health insurance is being raised by 12% starting this December to make up for an unpredicted increase in claims and an overall increase in healthcare cost. Faculty Senate President Peter Adam said some of the increase was because of misprojection on how much the University budgeted for health insurance claims, and now there is a need to cover the money the University didn’t anticipate to spend. “Within our group, there were enough claims that there was a $400,000 shortfall in terms of what was predicted,” Adam said. “So what they’ve had to do is essentially look to make up for that $400,000, and so the end result is that the insurance had to go up on the faculty side of things.” Human Resources Generalist Brooke Hull said that rather than just making up the overall loss by raising the cost of the insurance plan, they start to look at plan design changes to negate some of those increases. “So instead of just doing a blanket increase of 20 percent for all employees, we decided to make some changes to the plan designs,” Hull said.
12% increase to faculty health insurance by December
ILLUSTRATION BY MAKAYLA POLAK DESIGN EDITOR
NATHAN ENGLISH Managing Editor | @nathan_3nglish
S
eventy-three days after a full mask mandate was officially reinstated at Northwest due to a local and national rise in COVID-19 cases from the delta variant, it will change — slightly. The University announced via email Oct. 19 it would relax its existing mandate in certain aspects. Masks will no longer be required for vaccinated individuals in common areas — like the J.W. Jones Student Union and B.D. Owens Library — when social distancing is possible. The altered mandate officially begins Oct. 25. The change was decided upon in early October after frequent discussions between the Crisis Response Team 2, local health officials and the Northwest Leadership Team. Lt. Amanda Cullin, a member of CRT2, said the decision was based upon a “holistic approach,” which included University and Nodaway County COVID-19 trends such as vaccination rates, case counts and the local risk category.
Perhaps the most notable part of the new mandate is what it doesn’t change. Masks will still be required in classrooms, Horace Mann, the Wellness Center and meeting rooms where social distancing isn’t possible. Prolonged amounts of time and possible exposure in those places were the primary factors in keeping masks required there, Cullin said. The announcement of the altered mandate came just days after the University of Missouri decided to allow its mask mandate to expire Oct. 15. “Every town is different, every university is different and we are doing what’s best for our university in our area,” Cullin said. Changes to the mandate will not affect unvaccinated individuals, who will still be required to wear masks at all times when indoors. Since COVID-19 vaccination status is reported to Northwest voluntarily at this point, Cullin said there’s no real way for the University to determine whether unvaccinated students will comply with the lack of changes for their demographic.
SEE MANDATE | A6
The University provides two different insurance plans through Blue Cross Blue Shield. There is a traditional Preferred Provider Organization base plan and then a Qualified High Deductible plan. Hull said plan prices are based on salary bands, the range of coverage that an employee takes, and a slight difference between plans. Director of Human Resources Krista Barcus said there will be an increase on the High Deductible plan from $3,500 to $5,000 and then an increase out-of-pocket max on the base plan from $5,000 to $6,000. Adam said there have been mixed feelings about the increase in insurance plan costs. “I know that, certainly, there are a lot of people that are displeased about it, but a lot are accepting of it,” Adam said.
SEE FACULTY | A6 IN NEWS The Campus Barbershop receives an official license after long delay.
A3 The Campus Barbershop
OUR VIEW
A5
Providing condom despensers is a good step, but Northwest needs to do more. The University should focus more its students’ sexual health.
IN SPORTS The Bearcats best No. 1 Washburn, move up in rankings, and continue their long win streak. A10 Northwest Volleyball
Northwest Missouri’s oldest and largest independently-owned and operated bank. Maryville Savannah Mound City St. Joseph 660-562-3232 660-442-3131 816-324-3158 816-364-5678 AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1914.
Member FDIC PLEASE
RECYCLE