By State House
News Service
BOSTON — With COVID-19 surging still, masks will remain required indoors in Massachusetts public schools through at least the end of February, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education announced Monday.
School staff, students and parents had been awaiting a decision from Education Commissioner Jeff Riley on whether he would leave in place the mask mandate that was set to lapse this coming Saturday, Jan. 15, unless Riley extended it for a third time. Riley in December said he was waiting to give the medical community more time to understand the omicron variant.
Omicron fueled a massive spike in COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts, and the return to classrooms after winter break was marked at many schools by an abundance of virus-related absences that in some cases caused staffing shortages. Districts reported a total of more than 51,000 new student and staff COVID-19 cases from Dec. 23 to Jan. 5.
At Riley’s request, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in August granted him authority to mandate masks in schools for individuals age 5 and up through at least Oct. 1. Riley’s latest extension keeps the requirement in place through Feb. 28, 2022.
Masks are not required outdoors, while eating or drinking, or for students who cannot wear one for medical or behavioral reasons. Riley is electing to leave in place the option through which local officials can opt to lift the mandate for vaccinated individuals at a particular school if they first demonstrate to DESE a vaccination rate of at least 80 percent. “The mask requirement remains an important measure to keep students, teachers and staff in school safely at this time,” the department said in a statement. “The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, in consultation with medical experts and state health officials, will continue to evaluate public health data.”
In October, when Riley last extended the mask mandate, state education officials reported 1,804 COVID-19 cases among students during the week of Oct. 14 through Oct. 20, and 350 among staff. In the most recent report, covering the week of Dec. 16 through Dec. 22, 8,576 student cases were reported and 1,544 among staff.
The next report on student and staff infections is due out later Thursday.
In the face of rising infections and an updated mask advisory from state public health officials, education officials have stood by their rule that allows the mask mandate to be lifted, at the discretion of local officials, at middle and high schools with 80 percent of their students and staff vaccinated.
According to the most recent data available, state education officials have approved requests to lift the mask mandate from 31 schools, with seven other requests still processing.
The Department of Public Health on Dec. 21 issued an advisory that recommends, but does not require, all residents to wear masks in indoor public spaces. Massachusetts had varying forms of a mask mandate in place for much of the first year during the pandemic. DPH replaced the mandate with an advisory in May, about a month before Baker ended the COVID-19 state of emergency, and Baker has resisted calls to reinstitute a mask mandate.
“In response to the rise in cases and hospitalizations we are seeing in the Commonwealth and as we learn more about the emerging omicron variant, the Department of Public Health advises that all residents, regardless of vaccination status, wear a mask or face covering when indoors and not in their own home,” state Health and Human Service Secretary Marylou Sudders said last month when the advisory was reintroduced. “We particularly urge this recommendation if you have a weakened immune system or if you are at increased risk for severe disease because of your age or an underlying medical condition, or if someone in your household has a weakened immune system, is at increased risk for severe disease, or unvaccinated.”
The mask advisory was issued on the same day that Gov. Charlie Baker announced he was activating hundreds of Massachusetts National Guard personnel to assist overwhelmed health care providers and requiring hospitals to postpone or cancel non-essential elective procedures in order to preserve hospital bed capacity.
The mask advisory immediately generated calls for a mask mandate, and Baker on Dec. 21 defended the advisory in part by saying that people who have been both vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19 face an “extremely low” risk from the fast-spreading omicron variant.
School districts this year are required to provide in-person learning to all students. The school mask mandate includes exceptions for students who cannot wear a mask due to medical conditions or behavioral needs.
In August, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education gave Riley the authority, at his request, to mandate masks for all public K-12 students, educators, and staff through at least Oct. 1. So far, Riley has twice extended his initial mandate.
