Beshear recommends masking in schools; decision left to districts for now

July 26, 2021 | 4:49 pm

Updated July 26, 2021 | 4:56 pm

Andy Beshear

Gov. Andy Beshear on Monday issued “strong” recommendations about when Kentucky school systems should require masks for the upcoming year, though no mandates were given. Kentucky Department of Education officials also said they plan to let each district decide how their schools will operate this fall. 

Earlier this month, local school districts made a joint announcement that masks will be optional for all students and staff, unless directly ordered by state officials. That decision has not changed. The school systems all collectively announced their intentions to return to full, in-person instruction for the 2021-22 school year. 

On Monday, Beshear said school districts should require all unvaccinated students and adults to wear a mask when in classrooms and other indoor school settings. He added that all students under 12 years old should wear a mask, as they aren’t eligible for a vaccine.

Beshear also said school districts “wishing to optimize the safety and minimize the risk of educational and athletic disruption” should require all students and adults to wear a mask while in the classroom and other indoor school settings.

“How we make decisions has to come from one simple place — what gives us the best chance to have our kids in school the maximum number of days in the midst of a pandemic? That is it. That should be our North star. That should be what drives us,” Beshear said.

Beshear and state officials said Kentucky’s challenge is that the Delta variant spreads quickly and aggressively among unvaccinated people of all ages. Without mitigation efforts, they expect the Delta variant will spread through unvaccinated classrooms and throughout buildings resulting in large, frequent quarantines of students and staff.

Beshear said a mandate was “not off the table” but thought the state would “see enough buy-in and enough results to where that is not necessary.”

Earlier Monday, Kentucky Department of Education Commissioner Jason Glass sent an email to superintendents saying he does not know of any mandates or requirements that will be issued to schools, saying decisions will be left to the districts.

“Let me be clear – at this time I am not aware of any orders or mandates that will be handed down from the governor and (similarly) there are no plans for regulations or directives coming from the KBE or from Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) relating to COVID-19 mitigation requirements for the coming school year,” Glass wrote in the email.

It continued, “While we all have seen conditions change over the course of our management of this pandemic – and there may need to be such orders in the future – presently decisions on how your schools will operate this fall remain local decisions. The only exception is masking on school buses, which is required under a Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) order.”

Glass also said that in the “strongest possible terms” he recommends all public and private schools in Kentucky follow the latest CDC recommendations and guidance from the Kentucky Department for Public Health (DPH) for COVID-19 prevention in schools. 

The guidance includes the following elements:

  • Prioritize in-person learning.
  • Encourage and promote vaccination.
  • Masks should be worn by all people age 2 and older who are not vaccinated when physical distrancing cannot be maintained.
  • Maintain at least 3 feet of physical distance between students in indoor spaces.
  • Continue screening, testing, handwashing, respiratory etiquette, staying at home when sick and getting tested, contact tracing in combination with quarantine and isolation, and cleaning and disinfection efforts. 

“I understand that some would like to believe COVID-19 is no longer a threat,” Glass said in the email. “While these perspectives may be loud, they will have no impact on my recommendation to you on following the CDC and DPH guidance. … I understand that we are all weary of COVID-19 mitigation efforts, and that we have enjoyed some semblance of normalcy these past few weeks of summer. But we cannot ignore that conditions have shifted again and for the worse. With vaccinations among adults stalling, the delta variant is a much more transmissible version of the COVID-19 virus and transmission levels in our communities are on a troubling rise. Because of this reality, you have a responsibility to take the steps necessary to get your schools open safely for operations this fall.”

July 26, 2021 | 4:49 pm

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