Who would have thought? Students are now required to wear facemasks during lectures and while studying in the library. Resource visited Forum and talked to students and a supervisor.
Text and photographs: Susan van Weperen
Esmee Barnin (43) – supervisor Forum
‘The measure is still confusing for many students’
‘Students are required to wear a facemask when seated now. I have seen that this still confuses many of them. Moreover, it is inconvenient when eating: You must lower the mask to take a bite and then raise it again. This means touching the mask, which enables the bacteria on your hands to transfer onto the mask. There are quite a few people who don’t wear the mask when they are seated together, and we, as supervisors, are expected to enforce the measure. Yes, I do understand this is unpleasant. But these are the rules.’
Annelot (21) – master’s student of Forest and Nature Management
‘Once I’ve been wearing it for a while, I tend to forget about it’
‘Having to wear a facemask indoors is far from ideal. But with each new covid measure I always think: “If it is safer, I’m fine with it”. Once I’ve been wearing my facemask for a while, I tend to forget about it, although an entire day of wearing a facemask is rather long. I come to the campus four times per week now and wear a facemask during practicals. Practicals take three to four hours, so I am rather relieved when I can remove the mask at the end of the day.’
Maikel Versantvoort (24) – bachelor student of Biology
‘I prefer to attend lectures from home, without a facemask’
‘It is quite the opposite of pleasant, especially during long practicals and lectures. Moreover, I wear glasses, and that, in combination with a facemask, is annoying. Sometimes I wonder if a facemask helps, but I assume that those making the rules know what they are doing. I have a total of eight hours of lectures on campus, plus my online lectures. These can sometimes also be attended face-to-face, but I prefer watching them from home where I don’t have to wear a facemask.’
Elia Turato (24) – master’s student Plant Breeding
‘Meeting online is really tough’
‘It’s weird to have to wear a facemask once again. We didn’t have to wear them for a few weeks, and now the measure has been reinstated all of a sudden. Getting used to it once again is challenging. Before, keeping a one-and-a-half-metre distance was sufficient, and now it suddenly no longer is. Confusing, right? Why not just the social distancing we had before? Now I have to wear a facemask in Forum, and meeting online is really difficult. Others are not able to hear me properly, and I have trouble hearing them, which is confusing. And you can’t really see each other. No, I don’t like it at all.’
Louise Jansseune (18) – bachelor student Animal Sciences
‘Annoying with glasses’
‘I’m from France, where facemasks were already mandatory, so the new measure does not come as a shock to me. I do wonder what the benefit of a facemask is when people are seated by themselves with everyone else at least 1.5 metres away. I understand the need during lectures because people are packed closer together. In such situations, a facemask can make a difference. We are also no longer permitted to wear facemasks made of textile, which is a pity as they are slightly more comfortable, especially with my glasses.’
