NC wants to make sure students and teachers wear face masks in class due to COVID-19
Updated state health guidance makes it clear that North Carolina public school students and teachers are required to wear face coverings when they’re in class during the school day.
The state Department of Health and Human Services guidance released last week only mandated that face coverings be worn when students, staff and visitors were or may be within 6 feet of another person. But revised guidance released on Friday drops the wording about only wearing the coverings when you’re within 6 feet of another person.
Some school districts had hoped to allow students to remove the face coverings during class because the state said capacity had to be reduced to maintain 6 feet of social distancing in classrooms. Susan Perry, DHHS chief deputy secretary, told the State Board of Education on Friday that her department wanted to clarify the face covering requirement.
“There was a little bit of confusion, so we’re always looking to update our frequently asked questions and our guidance to make sure that our guidance is as clear as possible,” Perry said.
The state is requiring all public school students and school employees to wear face coverings when they’re at school or in school buses.
The updated guidance says face coverings don’t have to worn when the person is eating, drinking or strenuously exercising. Exceptions can also be made for anyone who can’t tolerate a face covering due to developmental, medical or behavioral health needs.
Benefits of face masks pitched
Perry said that wearing a face covering may decrease the risk of spreading COVID-19 to another person by a half to two-thirds.
“Face masks are a scientifically proven and an important, critical tool that we have to mitigating risk,” Perry said. “I’m encouraged to see more and more leaders across our state and nationally supporting the wearing of face masks as a good way to get our schools reopened and our economy back up and going.”
Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order in June requiring people to wear face coverings in public.
The state initially only recommended face coverings for students and school employees before then requiring them to be worn. The state will provide five reusable cloth face coverings for every student and school employee.
DHHS is recommending schools build in short breaks during the day from wearing the face masks. Schools are suggested to have those breaks when risk of transmission is lower, such as when people are outside and are consistently 6 feet apart.
Cooper is allowing the state’s public schools to reopen under a “moderate social distancing” plan that limits capacity in schools and buses.
The majority of North Carolina public school students will start the year with remote learning, according to a tally kept by the News & Observer. But some schools are still reopening for in-person instruction and those that are delaying will be subject to the face mask requirement when they eventually resume face-to-face classes.
One of the concerns that’s been raised is whether elementary school students can be expected to wear face masks. Perry said letting young children decorate their face masks and role play with them works.
“We know and see and are aware of many younger children who are wearing face coverings,” Perry said. “They are wearing it in camp right now and wearing them successfully. There’s lots of ways to make wearing a face covering fun.”
State board member James E. Ford asked how the requirement will be enforced if a student refuses to wear the covering. State board chairman Eric Davis said they can “educate that child in a remote fashion.”
“That’s the reason why we’ve asked every district and every charter school to prepare a remote instruction plan so that in the event that, for whatever reason it’s not possible or acceptable to be in one of our buildings, then we can continue to educate that child in a remote fashion,” Davis said. “We’re conscious of educating all, but also ensuring, as best we can, the safety of those who are in our buildings.”
Forest questions school reopening plan
Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, a member of the state board, complained that there are no benchmarks that the public can see for determining when Cooper, a Democrat, will fully reopen public schools. Forest, a Republican, is running against Cooper this fall for governor.
“This could literally go on forever if we don’t have a goal or a number or some kind of data or science that we’re trying to achieve in a certain metric,” Forest said. “I don’t mean that to be confrontational in any way. I just think that’s a real basic thing when we are asking the entire state to do these things.
“It will be real helpful if they know what they were trying to achieve so they could celebrate their success when they achieve it and open our schools back up.”
Perry said it will be based on factors such as when the state sees downward trajectories over a 14-day period in areas such as influenza-like illnesses, COVID-like syndromic cases, documented cases of COVID-19 and positive tests of COVID-19 as a percent of the whole.
Perry said the state isn’t meeting any of those trajectories yet. North Carolina reported at least 2,000 new lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases Friday for the third time in the past week, while hospitalizations barely fell below Thursday’s all-time high, The N&O reported.
The state board unanimously adopted the updated DHHS school reopening guidance. Forest wasn’t present at the time of the vote at the virtual board meeting.
