Chatham schools will soon be ‘mask optional,’ as board approves transition
Chatham County schools could soon shed their mask requirements, shifting to a system of “individual responsibility,” officials said Monday.
The county’s Board of Education voted 5-0 to no longer require athletes to wear masks during sporting events. That starts Tuesday.
In a 3-2 split, the board also voted to begin a gradual transition toward an optional masking program, but it delayed the start of that program until “on or around March 7,” according to a news release.
The delayed transition was approved to “provide staff and students with time to get vaccinated if they so choose or time to get a booster shot,” the release stated.
The exact timeline for the transition will depend on data and guidance from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, the Chatham County Health Department and the ABC Science Collaborative, officials said.
“Numbers have been trending in the right direction,” Board Chairman Gary Leonard said in the release. “We believe as more people have gotten vaccinated and their boosters, as well as nearing the end of winter, we can provide our staff and students with the choice of whether they want to wear a mask or not.”
Over the past week, 242 cases of the virus have been reported in Chatham County, according to DHHS data. Since the start of the pandemic, 104 people in the county have died from the virus.
There were zero COVID-19 clusters occurring in school or child care settings in the county as of Thursday.
The school board decision comes as Johnston County dropped a stipulation Monday that would have seen some schools still requiring masks after this week, even as the district transitions to an optional mask policy.
In Wake County, school officials will not revisit the mask policy for another two weeks, The News & Observer reported.
Chatham County, which said it has used “mitigation strategies” to maintain in-person learning over the course of the school year, will hold a meeting ahead of March 7 to determine next steps.
“Staff and students who want to continue to mask are welcome to do so,” said Superintendent Anthony Jackson. “But we recognize others in the community want the option of removing the mask, and we believe it is now time to offer that choice.”
“We do this with the understanding that the risk now shifts from district mitigation to individual responsibility,” he added.
This story was originally published February 15, 2022 at 9:06 AM.