Here’s why Wake schools say they’re not easing their indoor face mask requirements
Wake County school leaders are blaming a post-Thanksgiving spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in the community for delaying the school system’s plans to ease masking rules.
The Wake County school board unanimously voted this week to continue an indoor mask requirement for students, school employees and school visitors. School administrators said they had originally planned after Thanksgiving to recommend dropping the indoor mask requirement for students participating in athletes and extracurricular activities, but COVID cases began rising.
“Once the community indicators allow, and in partnership with public health officials, our intent is to begin relaxing health guidelines in some ways,” Paul Koh, Wake’s assistant superintendent for student support services, told the board.
“Removing the requirements for students while participating in athletic events, for example, would have been a logical choice if positive cases and community transmission continued to decline and health officials agreed with our assessment. Unfortunately, that did not occur.”
North Carolina has seen a post-Thanksgiving spike in the number of COVID cases, The News & Observer has reported. The state is also bracing for the impact of the omicron variant.
In addition to the rise in COVID numbers, Koh said the ABC Science Collaborative and Wake County public health officials didn’t recommend a change in the masking rules. The ABC Science Collaborative was formed by Duke University to advise schools on COVID-19 issues.
Plan for ending masking in schools
Under state law, school districts have to vote monthly on their face mask policies. Most of the state’s school districts are still requiring masks.
Wake is the state’s largest school district, with more than 158,000 students.
Wake has made some changes this school year, such as no longer requiring masks to be worn outdoors by athletes and other students participating in extracurricular activities.
Koh outlined a multi-step process for ending the indoor mask mandate. He said it would depend on the number of positive COVID cases decreasing, transmission remaining low and community indicators showing sufficient decreases..
If all the factors are met, Koh said they’d first look to end the mask requirement for students participating in athletics and extracurricular activities. The next step would be to not require masks during lunch and the last step would be to not require masks in classrooms.
Calls to end mask mandate
Wake’s plan to continue masking comes as some parents have continued to lobby against the requirement.
Several speakers said during this week’s board meeting that 50% of parents support making face masks a choice instead of a requirement. They also argued there’s not a statistically significant difference in COVID cases between districts that require masks and those that do not.
“It’s time for our schools to return to normal,” said Lindsey Tobin, the parent of a kindergarten student. “Our kids cannot wait for that. Unmask our children.”
Some speakers pointed to how students don’t have to wear masks when they’re out in public to argue against the school requirement.
But Koh disagreed.
“We appreciate that compliance has become increasingly difficult at events outside school hours,” Koh said. “However, relaxing standards for that reason does not align with current data or advice.”
This story was originally published December 9, 2021 at 1:11 PM.
