NC adjusts mask guidelines, recommends districts require them in K-8 schools
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced Wednesday that school districts should require masks indoors for all students and staff in elementary and middle schools, regardless of their vaccination status.
Unvaccinated students and personnel at all schools should wear masks indoors as well, the governor announced. That includes students, staff and visitors in high schools.
The change puts the responsibility for issuing mask rules at the local level.
Officials say it’s because most school-age children in K-8 are not eligible for the vaccine. Only one vaccine, the Pfizer vaccine, has been approved for ages 12 to 17. Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are for people 18 and older.
Cooper also announced that the current executive order, which had the mask mandate in certain settings, will expire at the end of this month. However he said he will continue the state of emergency, which North Carolina has been under since March 2020, to maintain public health.
“We’ve just had today our highest numbers of cases and hospitalizations in about two months,” Cooper told reporters at a news conference Wednesday at the Emergency Operations Center. “There are a number of things, particularly in getting people vaccinated, that we are able to do because we’re in a state of emergency.”
In the last week, North Carolina has reported 7,298 new cases of COVID-19, up from 4,571 from the week prior. That’s an increase of nearly 60%.
The mask mandate in schools and other settings like prisons, health care, public transit and childcare have been the last restrictions Cooper has lifted as part of his pandemic executive orders. The statewide mask mandate, except for certain settings, was lifted in May after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its guidance.
Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, has cited the CDC to explain why they have maintained the mask mandate in schools.
Cohen noted in early June that the CDC recommends unvaccinated people wear masks indoors, and “that includes the vast majority of our children who are in K-12 schools.”
That CDC guidance changed in early July. The new recommendation is that vaccinated teachers and students do not need to wear masks in schools, and allows some flexibility at the local level, the Associated Press reported.
At the press conference, Cohen said masks should be required for all students and staff at middle schools because some students are younger than 12.
But since all high school students are eligible for vaccination, Cohen said, masks should only be required for those unvaccinated in those settings.
“We want to show that when you do get vaccinated, that you are able to take off your mask,” Cohen said. “We hope that will be an additional incentive for our high schoolers to go get vaccinated.”
Who is vaccinated among teens?
But among children age 12 to 17 in North Carolina, which includes high schoolers, just 28% have received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine, and 24% are fully vaccinated, as of Wednesday.
“That’s way too low,” Cohen said. “That means 75% of most high schools, if not more, are going to be completely unvaccinated. Got to get vaccines. Absolute, number one prevention, and if not, making sure folks are wearing masks.”
The 2021-22 school year already has begun for year-round schools in Wake County, the largest school district in the state. The traditional calendar school year starts in late August.
There has been some confusion about mask wearing in schools as the American Academy of Pediatrics guidance differs from the CDC’s. AAP recommends that everyone in schools still wear masks, even if they are vaccinated.
Cohen said that the CDC and AAP’s recommendation informed the new DHHS guidance for schools.
In North Carolina, there will still be a requirement for passengers and staff on buses and school transportation to wear masks, to comply with the CDC.
Physical distancing of at least 3 feet is recommended “to the fullest extent possible” when students are eating with meals recommended outdoors.
The North Carolina House passed a bill in June that would allow decisions on mask policies be left to local school districts, but it has not passed the Senate.
North Carolina’s updated tool kit said school administrators may make masks “universally required,” based on the community’s needs, including increasing or high COVID-19 spread.
NC COVID-19 metrics
State health officials say the increase in COVID-19 cases is due to the delta variant, a more transmissible and possibly more deadly form of the coronavirus.
Among tests statewide that are sequenced for the delta variant and reported to the state, around 10%, over 75% are the delta variant, as of the week ending July 10, according to DHHS.
Officials say that the vaccine still provides protection against the variant, especially severe cases of the disease.
In recent weeks, 99% of cases and 98% of hospitalizations are among those unvaccinated, according to DHHS.
As of Wednesday, 60% of adults in North Carolina have received at least one dose, and 56% are fully vaccinated.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it at link.chtbl.com/underthedomenc or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published July 21, 2021 at 2:15 PM with the headline "NC adjusts mask guidelines, recommends districts require them in K-8 schools."
.jpg)