Education

Mask-Optional School Districts Exceed Those Requiring Masks

The figures come after the CDC last week backed off of mask requirements for schools in communities with low to medium risk of COVID-19 spread and severity.

The number of school districts that are mask-optional within the 500 largest in the U.S. has for the first time in the course of the pandemic exceeded the number that still require students, educators and school staff to wear masks – and that number is expected to accelerate following updated school guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that rolled back its recommendation of mask mandates.

As of Feb. 27, 243 of the 500 largest districts are mask-optional, the highest level seen this academic year and an increase from 176 on Feb. 4, according to the school tracking site Burbio. Two-hundred and forty school districts still require masks, while 17 require masks only for certain groups of students.

The CDC last week announced it no longer recommends mask requirements for schools in communities with low to medium risk of COVID-19 spread and severity at the community level – a new metric that takes into consideration hospitalizations and local transmission.

As it stands, roughly 70% of the U.S. population lives in counties where the community level is low to medium. Approximately 37% of counties in the U.S. fall under a high COVID-19 community level, representing 28% of the U.S. population, including large swaths of Arizona, California, Kentucky, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee and West Virginia.

“At the high level, CDC recommends that everyone wear a mask indoors in public, including in schools,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said the CDC’s updated guidance on masks marked “a new phase of the recovery,” and it prompted a cascade of announcements by school district and state officials about lifting mask mandates in the coming days and weeks, including by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul who said over the weekend that the state would remove its mask mandate on Wednesday.

“My friends, the day has come,” she said in a press conference Sunday.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that if COVID-19 numbers continue to decrease throughout the city that he plans to end mandatory masking in schools as early as March 7 – a move that would mark a symbolic moment for a city that was long ground zero of the pandemic.

“Our schools have been among the safest places for our children since the beginning of the pandemic, and we will continue to make the proper public health decisions to keep our kids safe, including making masks available for any child or school staff member who wishes to continue wearing them,” he said in a statement.

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READ: [New CDC Mask Guidance Marks Major Shift for Schools ]

Illinois and Maryland also plan to lift their mask mandates this week – though individual school districts can choose to keep them in place. In doing so, the states join a growing number choosing to shed one of the most politically divisive debates to spiral out of the pandemic.

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At the same time that states and school districts drop mask mandates, Burbio is also tracking continued slowdown in school disruptions. It found just 341 instances of schools needing to temporarily close or pivot to virtual learning last week compared to a high of nearly 7,500 the week of Jan. 10.

Source: usnews.com