Nassau Community College is reversing course on its mask mandate, just hours after saying it was reinstating it on Monday.

"After additional discussions, the college will not be reinstating the mask policy," a spokesperson for the school said.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman released a statement saying in part, "After strong and evidence-based discussions with the president of the college, they are withdrawing their premature decision to mandate masks."

Blakeman's statement also said that they have not seen a spike in hospitalizations and that there is "very little value" in mandating masks to prevent the spread of COVID.

Dr. Adrian Popp, of Huntington Hospital, disagreed with Blakeman's statement about masks having little impact in stopping COVID from spreading.

"Wearing masks definitely prevents transmission of upper respiratory viral illnesses," Popp said.

The quick about-face caused confusion among students who weren't sure if the mask mandate was going to take effect.

Some students said they thought it would be a good idea to wear masks again with rising cases while others didn't see the point.

"They had us vaccinated for a reason, right?," said Jennifer Romero. "I don't know why we have to wear masks."

The school originally made the announcement at around 12 p.m. that it would require masks regardless of vaccination status after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came out with new guidelines earlier this week recommending indoor masking for counties seeing high COVID community levels like Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Nassau Community College has updated its website to say masks are recommended, but not required.

The college would not say exactly why they reversed the decision so quickly - only saying it happened after further discussions.