Social distancing and mask rules will ease slightly on campus starting today.

If the current trend for COVID-19 case numbers continues, more changes can be expected in June. University president David Glassman said in an interview Monday that this would likely mean that events would no longer have an attendance limit.

Those changes would coincide with a shift to Phase Five of the Illinois COVID-19 plan. Illinois is currently in a “bridge stage” between phases four and five.

“It’s been suggested that we could go into Phase Five around June 11,” Glassman said. “It would be much, much closer to business as normal.”

Many outdoor facilities on campus are also opening up during the bridge phase.

“For example, we are putting the tennis nets back up, we’re putting the hoops back up on the basketball courts,” Glassman said.

According to an email from president Glassman which was sent to Eastern students and faculty on May 21, vaccinated individuals will not have to wear masks in many settings on campus.

Vaccinated individuals will not be required to wear masks outdoors at all. Unvaccinated individuals can also go maskless if they maintain social distancing.

In most indoor settings, masks will still be required by default.

However, in offices, meetings and non-classroom academic spaces such as labs, masks will not be required as long as it is possible to confirm that everyone present is fully vaccinated.

For clarification, “fully vaccinated” means that an individual has received both doses of a Moderna or Pfizer vaccine or the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and has waited two weeks for full affects to take place.

The email also says that determining whether someone has been vaccinated or not “will be based on the honor system. No one should request to see anyone’s vaccination card or other documentation.”

Luke Taylor can be reached at 581-2812 or at egtaylor@eiu.edu.