SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio area school districts are weighing in on the future of masks in schools as more people get vaccinated and coronavirus risk levels remains low.
The CDC noted now is not the time to lift school mask mandates, especially as the winter months approach.
This is along the same line of thinking by local school districts, including SAISD, which recognizes the potential for coronavirus positivity rates to increase after extended holiday breaks.
“Our mask protocols will remain in effect for the time being, and this is aligned with the CDC’s recommendations. COVID-19 positivity rates tend to increase after extended holiday periods, and we are about to enter our Thanksgiving and winter breaks. For the safety and well-being of our students and staff, we will continue to monitor local community metrics during our spring semester and may re-evaluate our mask protocol if conditions continue to improve,” said Laura Short, SAISD spokesperson.
NEISD is also maintaining its mask safety protocols for the time being.
“NEISD is aware of the latest ruling and recognizes the legal wrangling will likely continue. With low case counts and vaccines now available to all school-aged children, we will continue to make decisions with the safety of our students and staff in mind,” said Aubrey Chancellor, executive director of communications of NEISD.
NISD has loosed its mask mandate as of October, now "encouraging" the use of face coverings.
“We’re very confident that at the beginning of the school year because of the things we were putting in place including the temporary mask mandate at the time, we saw those numbers and those metrics steadily improving, we felt very comfortable in early October to move away from that temporary mandate to a position of strongly encouraging,” said Barry Perez, executive director of communications for NISD.