Va. – Starting this week, many schools in our region are dropping mask mandates on buses.
School divisions in Roanoke, Rockbridge and Pulaski counties are among a growing list to do so.
This comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are updating their guidance.
On Friday, the CDC announced that it’s no longer necessary for people to wear masks on buses or vans operated by public or private school or private school systems, including early care and education/child care programs.
The CDC said it’s making this change to, ”align with updated guidance that no longer recommends universal indoor mask wearing in K-12 schools and early education settings in areas with a low or medium COVID-19 Community Level.”
“We’ve been trying to follow the CDC, the Virginia Department of Health and whatever Governor’s Order that has been in place,” said Pulaski County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kevin Siers. “Sometimes they have been in conflict with each other, but now all the guidance seems to be moving in the same direction. That is to get away from the universal masking and encourage more individual responsibility.”
Masks in the classroom have been optional for students in Pulaski County since January 24.
Siers said the school divison saw a small rise in cases after the first week, but since then, new cases have rapidly declined.
“There certainly have been a lot of challenges over the last few years. Fortunately, things seem to be swinging back to a normal routine for our faculty, staff, students and families,” said Siers. “I’m hopeful that trend will continue and when we start the next school year, we’ll be doing so under completely normal circumstances.”
While new CDC guidance lifts masking for many, the vast majority of those in Southwest and Central Virginia are still being advised to wear masks while inside public places.
That’s because recommended that those in areas that have a high COVID-19 Community Level still wear a mask indoors in public.
The metric is dependent upon newly reported cases, as well as hospitalizations.
In Virginia, 63 of the 133 cities and counties across the Commonwealth are at a high level.
The only places west of Charlottesville that with a medium level are Buckingham, Greene, Pittsylvania, Rockingham and Roanoke counties, as well as the cities of Salem and Roanoke. The only place with a low COVID-19 Community Level in that same geographic area is the city of Danville.
“I do think within the next week we will definitely drop down from the orange to the yellow,” said New River Health District Director Dr. Noelle Bissell. “Then, potentially very soon thereafter, into the green because our cases are dropping pretty significantly.”
This is why local health experts, like Bissell, are encouraging the community to shift toward optional masking and personal responsibility, rather than mask mandates.
Bissell also added another reason to move away from mask requirements. She said that cloth masks have been proven to be ineffective and the type of mask a person wears couldn’t be mandated.