SAN ANTONIO — Northside ISD announced it will end a temporary indoor mask mandate on Monday, February 14, that was put in place last month.
The mask mandate was announced January 19 as COVID cases were surging due to a severe outbreak of the omicron variant in San Antonio.
In a letter families, NISD Superintendent Dr. Brian Woods said the district is still strongly encouraging students wear masks as COVID is still spreading quickly in the community.
See the full statement from the district's website below:
Effective Monday, Feb. 14, NISD is ending the temporary face mask mandate that has been in place since Jan. 20. While face masks will not be mandated, we will continue to strongly encourage their use by all students, staff, and visitors while indoors and on school buses.
The removal of the temporary mandate is based on improving metrics in both the city and county as well as in our schools. Metrics that were specifically monitored include the percentage of positive tests, cases per 100,000 residents, positive cases reported directly to our schools, number of individuals in self-isolation or quarantine, and student and staff attendance rates. All of these metrics have steadily improved over the two weeks.
We will keep in place COVID protocols to include notification of confirmed cases, weekly website reporting, and frequent sanitizing. Likewise, we will continue to host COVID testing and vaccination locations across the district. For more information on testing and vaccination opportunities, visit nisd.net/schools/health/covid.
Thank you for your support of our efforts to keep our schools open for in-person learning. We will continue to monitor metrics closely and continue to make decisions in the best interests of students and staff.