The Montgomery County, Maryland, school board is expected Thursday to discuss whether and how to lift the school system’s mask mandate, but County Executive Marc Elrich said he does not support the move to unmask in schools just yet.
“I do think that we will get to a point where masking will safely be optional. But we’re still in substantial transmission. … This is not the time to make that decision,” Elrich said during a virtual briefing with reporters Wednesday.
The ultimate decision about whether to make masks optional in the school system rests with the Montgomery County Board of Education.
The board’s meeting Thursday comes after the State Board of Education voted this week to lift a statewide requirement that students and staff members wear face coverings on public school grounds and return control to the local level. A policy panel still has to OK the state board’s move.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan had urged the board to lift the state mandate, citing dramatically improving COVID case rates. Parents who support lifting the mask mandate also argue that children remain at lower risk of developing a serious case of COVID-19.
Under the previous state mandate, local school systems could lift the mask mandate if certain metrics were met — including vaccination rates of at least 80% in the surrounding county or community transmission rates remain at “moderate” or “low” level for 14 consecutive days.
Montgomery County and a handful of other school systems in Maryland met that earlier criteria but, so far, only Anne Arundel County has lifted its mask mandate. Howard County school officials have said they will lift their mask mandate once the county records 14 days of moderate transmission of the virus, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
James Bridgers, Montgomery County’s acting county health officer, said he doesn’t know what the board will decide but said that the county has been assisting the school system with monitoring data.
He suggested school officials are considering a range of possible factors that could be used to lift the mask mandate, such as tying the lifting of the mask mandate to community spread of the virus and that school officials are likely to take a phased approach.
“There’s been no definitive decisions made,” but added, “We know that we can anticipate a phased approach.”
Bridgers said the school system is still working to come up with the exact off-ramps — and potential on-ramps.
“If there’s an off-ramp, there clearly needs to be an on-ramp, if in fact a surge comes again before the school year ends,” Bridgers said.
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Earl Stoddard, the county’s assistant chief administrative officer, said one “complicating factor” in the discussion is potential conflict with guidelines for quarantining and isolation. For example, vaccinated students who are exposed to COVID-19 at school are able to stay in the classroom provided — per CDC recommendations — they wear a well-fitting mask for the following 10 days.
Students who are unvaccinated can end their quarantine period early, provided they get a negative test and wear a mask.
Stoddard said lifting the mask mandate while those other guidelines are in place could lead to unintended consequences.
“That’s one of the things that MCPS raised in some of the conversations, is the challenges posed by the quarantining piece of this. We don’t know what they’re going to decide — but it’s complicated,” Stoddard said.
In addition, the CDC continues to recommend mask-wearing in K-12 settings.
The county’s mask mandate — which does not apply to schools — which had largely been in place since late last summer, official lifted Tuesday under a board of health regulation approved by the county council.
But Elrich said he plans to still wear a mask in public settings, and he said the county is “strongly recommending” that front-facing county employees who have not received their COVID-19 booster shots continue to wear face masks in publicly accessible areas.
The county is also strongly recommending that front facing staff who have not received their booster and visitors and county government offices and facilities continue to wear a face covering in publicly accessible areas.
