Few school districts return to masking after the holidays
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A handful of public school districts are mandating masks as kids and staff return from holiday breaks, but an Axios review of cities across the country found those orders to be far from the norm.
The big picture: There's little apparent appetite to return to pandemic strategies like masking or social distancing, even in the face of a tripledemic. And the sentiment cuts across red and blue states.
Even administrators in solidly progressive enclaves like Boston, San Francisco and Seattle are encouraging, but not outright requiring, masks. Washington, D.C. public schools also haven't adopted a mandate.
- Most schools are evaluating risk on a classroom-by-classroom or building-to-building basis, saying illness levels aren't nearly as disruptive as last winter when Omicron began circulating.
- "When a determination is made it's in the best interest of the students to wear masks, they will do that," Daniel Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, told Axios, adding that districts that have emphasized masks tended to be in colder regions with increased virus spread.
Between the lines: It's a far cry from a year ago, when about half of the country's 53 million children were compulsorily masked in school, per The Atlantic.
- Critics have said such policies hindered learning and weighed heaviest on children with cognitive problems and speech and hearing issues. And school masking quickly became a centerpiece of the broader political fight over the pandemic response.
Public health experts, however, say months of illness and misery have taught us masking up in and crowded areas like schools — even for a short while — would likely help reduce disease progression.
- "I think of it like using umbrellas in a rainstorm. They don't need it every single day. But there are times that they do. This is exactly one of those times," Kavita Patel, an NBC medical contributor, told the Today Show.
- "We shouldn't underestimate the impact of masks. They are so simple, they're relatively easy to use. They're cheap," William Schaffner, professor of preventative medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told Axios. "Every little thing we can do provides more security."
What they found: School administrators in Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey, are requiring students and teachers to wear masks through Jan. 13 "as a way of protecting students and employees after holiday gatherings," WPVI reported.
- The school district in Paterson, New Jersey, also instituted a mandate, although there is no end date in place yet, CBS New York reported.
- Boston's public schools, as well as districts in surrounding communities, are "strongly encouraging" students and staff to wear masks through Jan. 13, Boston.com reported.
Meanwhile, spokespeople from school districts told Axios' reporters in Atlanta, Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Columbus that they have no plans to return to masking.
- Nor do the public schools in Chicago, which return to classes next week, although the schools chief said he would strongly encourage them if the city announced a mask advisory, reported Axios' Monica Eng.
