Law Schools

Bar Exam Drops Mask Mandate Days Before Test... Low Vaccination Rates And Raging Delta Infections Elicit Shrugs

Bar examiners can't be bothered to worry about all these infection numbers!

By  
on

The Texas bar exam will be held in three weeks.

Examinees who signed up for the in-person examination knew that the risk of COVID wasn’t completely behind the country, but took heart in the safety guidelines that the bar examiners announced:

“At a minimum… Everyone in the exam room must wear a mask.” That was the deal all the grads signing up for this administration of the test knew about.

But on the cusp of the very last minute, it looks like the bar examiners changed the deal.

Masks are allowed and encouraged, but not required

  • Examinees are allowed to wear masks in the exam room and throughout the exam site. Examinees may wear their own masks. We will also have some masks available.
  • Per CDC guidelines: those who are not fully vaccinated are encouraged to wear masks at all times. we will not ask anyone about their vaccination status)

On the one hand, fully vaccinated people are now allowed by CDC guidance to be indoors without a mask. But if the bar examiners aren’t going to ask about vaccination status — which they should because if any applicant quotes “HIPPA” in response to that question it should be an automatic fail — then just keep the mask mandate.

Sponsored

Because this isn’t the Vermont bar exam where everyone is going to be vaccinated. Texas has a 41.8 percent fully vaccinated rate, which is bad, but is even worse when you see that only 48.7 percent have “received at least one dose” and realize that it’s just not going to get much better than 50 percent.

One would like to hope that the population of examinees is far more likely to be vaccinated by now… though you never know down there.

Meanwhile the Delta variant is running rampant in Texas risking a major outbreak among unvaccinated populations. Actually, Delta risks outbreaks among the vaccinated too, though the risk is lower and the risk of serious implications or death is way lower. Still, for the vaccinated out there with an immunocompromised person at home — or a child for that matter — getting exposed can have tragic implications beyond their personal health.

But somehow despite all that’s going on, the bar examiners have decided to pull the plug on a mask requirement at the last second. Was it bullying from local politicians determined to keep the death toll rising? Whatever prompted the move, it’s left a lot of examinees who relied on that “at a minimum” language wondering if it’s worth it to risk a superspreader event.

And Texas isn’t even the worst state out there right now when it comes to rising infections. What other venue is going to try and roll the dice with an outbreak?

Sponsored

Good luck and get vaccinated folks.

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

Topics

,