School mask mandates return amid latest surge

Several major municipalities bring back requirements as contagious variants spread

Mask mandates are making a comeback at public schools in Louisville, Ky. They could return to Los Angeles, after a possible decision this week. And outside Atlanta, where classes start in a matter of days, they are required for school employees.

This is not what school leaders hoped for when they pictured the lead-up to the 2022-23 school year. But a sizable swath of the country is seeing a surge of COVID-19 cases, according to data posted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For another year, educators are scrambling to adjust to COVID-19’s fluctuations. CDC data shows a “high” COVID-19 “community level” — a measure of case and hospitalization rates — in hundreds of counties, as the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 have spread.

“Everybody wishes we didn’t have to wear masks, but the health experts recommend we wear them to keep people safe,” said Bernard Watson, spokesman for Gwinnett County Public Schools in Georgia, where the community level is high and more than 20,000 employees will be required to wear face coverings in buildings if the area remains at a high level on the first day of school, Aug. 3. Students are strongly encouraged to mask but are not included in the mandate because of a recent state law called the “Unmask Georgia Students Act,” which lets parents decide whether their children wear masks at school.

But while some school districts are following CDC guidance, which recommends universal masking indoors when community levels are high, others are taking a mask-optional approach. Some school systems have not decided, hoping the virus wanes before they open.

In San Diego, school district officials mandated masks indoors July 18, when CDC data showed San Diego County hit a high COVID-19 level and summer school was in session. But officials said this week they have not made a decision about mask-wearing when the regular school year starts Aug. 29.

“Local health experts have advised that although cases are high now, our county could be out of the ‘high’ level by the end of August when classes resume,” officials of the San Diego Unified School District said in an email.

Critics condemned the San Diego decision. “The transmission parents fear is the mask mandates spreading across the country,” said Sharon McKeeman, a vocal opponent of masks and the founder of the advocacy group Let Them Breathe.

In nearby Los Angeles, health officials were considering a countywide indoor mask mandate for a list of settings, including schools, after the area reached a high COVID-19 community level in mid-July. But on Tuesday, officials said improving conditions could delay the decision, which had been expected Thursday.

Meanwhile, it is unclear whether the CDC plans to issue more guidance for schools as they reopen. A CDC spokeswoman declined to say. “We are constantly evaluating our guidance and as new science based evidence emerges necessary updates are made,” CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund said in a statement. The most recent recommendations came in a CDC update from May.