BOSTON — As the statewide school mask mandate gets dropped, Boston public health officials are debating the idea of lifting the city’s mask requirement for schools and businesses.
The city’s Public Health Commission says they will meet Tuesday, March 1, to discuss the situation – just one day after Massachusetts public schools are allowed to drop their face mask indoors.
The statewide school mask removal does not overpower rules issued by the individual districts, so local school committees and boards of health have to decide on a town-by-town basis.
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On Feb. 9, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and Gov. Charlie Baker said the statewide mask requirement for K-12 schools would be allowed to expire on Monday, Feb. 28.
However, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu says the city’s school system isn’t quite ready for that yet.
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Wu said she believes it’s crucial to keep the mask mandate in play as students leave and come back from school vacation in case of a possible surge in COVID-19 cases.
Cambridge, Somerville, and Springfield are districts alongside Boston that are choosing to hold off on the immediate removal of masks.
Tuesday’s meeting also comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased its coronavirus guidelines on Friday, now categorizing counties by risk. The CDC is no longer recommending mask-wearing for “low,” and “medium” risk counties, except among people who have underlying health conditions that put them at high risk for COVID-19.
The CDC is still recommending people, including schoolchildren, to wear masks where the risk of COVID-19 is high.
Wu did however say the city appeared to be heading in the “right direction,” with COVID-19 measures, as Boston’s positivity rate is now at 4%, compared to around 2% statewide.
“It’s such a different place now than it was a week ago or a month ago, so we want to keep those trends going,” Wu said Saturday, WBUR reported.
“We want to be intentional with how we change and lift our policies,” she said, according to WBUR.
Even though most students and staff across the Commonwealth are allowed to take their masks off regardless of vaccination status, the DESE is “strongly recommending” unvaccinated people to keep the masks on, as mentioned in a memo declaring the end of the mask requirement for schools.
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