As waves of West Coast districts join the nation in loosening COVID rules, yet more evidence is showing that mask mandates were extremely effective at blocking the virus.
On Friday, California, Oregon and Washington made masks optional in schools, with several large districts setting end dates for their own mandates. In California, San Francisco USD immediately made masks optional in middle and high schools and will allow elementary schools to stop wearing them on April 2. San Diego USD will make masks optional on April 4 while Sacramento City USD will lift its mask requirement on April 18.
“By maintaining our mask mandate through the start of spring break, we are acknowledging that this is a major change that will require difficult decisions for many,” San Diego USD officials said on the district’s website. “It will require education to ensure every individual’s masking decision is respected by other students and colleagues.”
Farther north, Portland Public Schools in Oregon and Seattle Public Schools will lift all mask requirements on Monday.
During last year’s delta surge, schools with mandatory masking reported 72% fewer cases of in-school COVID transmission compared to schools with optional or partial masking policies, says National Institutes of Health research released Thursday.
Most of the students and staff who contracted COVID while attending school in person got it from the community. Only 10% of cases were spread within school buildings, says the study, which tracked 1.1 million students and over 157,000 staff in 61 districts from July through December 2021. The study covered nine states: North Carolina, Wisconsin, Missouri, California, Washington, Georgia, Tennessee, Kansas and Texas.
Researchers found that for every 100 community-acquired cases, school districts with mandatory masking had approximately seven in-school infections, while mask-optional districts had 26 cases. Districts without mandates experienced 3.6 times the rate of in-school COVID-19 cases. “Masking remains a critical preventive measure in times with high community infection rates with more transmissible variants, such as omicron,” the authors of the study wrote.
More from DA: How much superintendents are earning now, plus one way K-12 leaders are changing
Mask mandates expired this week in many other big districts. The School District of Philadelphia made masks optional on Wednesday. In Ohio, Cincinnati Public Schools, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, and Columbus City Schools each made masks optional.
Back in Oregon, Portland Public Schools Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero reminded the school community that, two years after the COVID outbreak in the U.S., a range of protections, from vaccines to ventilation, is widely available.
“We understand that comfort levels on mask-wearing will vary in our community,” Guerrero said. “We plan on sharing resources to schools and families that help create a safe and welcoming environment for every student and staff member and one that honors individual decisions around COVID-19 safety, including the use of masks.”
Districts that required masks experienced a 23% lower incidence of COVID-19 among staff members and students compared with districts without universal mandates, according to a CDC study of transmission rates in Arkansas schools last spring and fall. The CDC called the report, which covered 233 districts, the first large-scale evaluation of mask mandates and their effectiveness in blocking COVID.
