State easing school mask mandates

CLINTON — The issue of masks in the classroom was brought up again at the Sampson County Board of Education in its work session earlier this week. New discussions on the state level are also happening, bringing forth potential change that could be implemented as soon as next week.

During a school board session this week that preceded the state’s announcement, Sampson County Schools Superintendent Dr. David Goodin said that the plan was to return with face coverings unless the state made changes to guidelines. On Wednesday, North Carolina health officials and Gov. Roy Cooper announced plans to eliminate the statewide mask mandate and ease masking requirements in schools.

The Strong Schools N.C. Public Health Tool Kit was also adjusted Wednesday, and SCS Board Chairman Sonya Powell had mentioned the previous guidelines, which included schoolwide masking.

“The updated StrongSchoolsNC Public Health Toolkit is aligned with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and American Academy of Pediatrics guidance, which urges that everything possible be done to keep students in schools and emphasizes continued masking,” a release said. “The Toolkit says schools with students in kindergarten through eighth grade should require all children and staff to wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status. Schools with students in 9th through 12th grades should ensure that anyone who isn’t fully vaccinated, including students, wear a mask indoors.”

“The most important work our state will do next month is getting all our school children back into the classrooms safely for in-person learning,” said Governor Cooper. “That’s the best way for them to learn, and we want their school days to be as close to normal as possible, especially after a year of disruption.”

The mask mandate expires at 5 p.m. on July 30, which is the same time the updated school reopening guidance takes effect.

“There are a lot of things going on and a lot of it is still up in the air at this point,” Powell had said.

Goodin described this as a “polarized discussion topic.”

“We have folks in the community who are strongly adamantly opposed to wearing face coverings and you have folks out there also who think it’s the safest way to go,” said Goodin.

Both Cooper and Dr. Mandy Cohen, the state’s top public health official, repeatedly declined to offer specifics on how they’d enforce the recommendations and crack down on districts that move to let all students return to the classroom without a face covering.

“We know masks work,” Cooper said in a news conference. “The health and safety and ability of our students to learn in person depends on school leaders following this guidance.”

The North Carolina Association of Educators, the state’s largest lobbying group representing teachers, called the governor’s decision to eliminate the statewide mask mandate “very poorly timed.” It added that the decision “flies in the face of recommendations” from federal health officials.

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have been on the rise in North Carolina amid the spread of the more lethal delta variant. Cohen said 94% of new cases and hospitalizations in the state were among unvaccinated individuals.

Making matters worse is the fact that fewer and fewer North Carolinians are coming in for a COVID-19 vaccine. Cohen said just 24% of kids between the ages of 12 and 17 are fully vaccinated. Of the North Carolina residents 12 or older who are eligible for a shot, 54% are fully vaccinated, according to state data.

Even so, a group of researchers released a report last month showing minimal transmission within North Carolina schools.

Throughout Wednesday’s news conference, Cooper and Cohen found themselves trying to strike a balance between communicating the seriousness of the new variant and the need for entities to implement their own masking policies.

“We are entering a new phase of this pandemic,” Cooper said. “We’ve gotten a lot of people vaccinated.”

Cooper defended his decision to end the statewide mask mandate and said he’s spoken with several governors who have already done so. He said North Carolina is working to “turn the final corner of this disease” by boosting vaccinations.

In the last two weeks, cases have more than tripled and hospitalizations have gone up over 69%. Asked what inning of the ballgame North Carolina is in at this stage of the pandemic, Cooper replied, “We’d have to sit down and study that issue.”