Hoover City Schools Requiring Masks, Halting Some Contact Tracing

HOOVER, AL — Hoover City Schools announced it is once again requiring masks to be worn inside school buildings, effective immediately.

The district also said it no longer would be conducting COVID-19 contract tracing for exposures in middle school and high school buildings because: "with our latest surge, this practice has become impossible."

However, contact tracing letters still will be sent to parents of elementary school students and school bus riders when their child has been deemed a close contact of somebody who has tested positive.

The announcement was made Wednesday by Hoover City School, and the mask mandate already was in place by Thursday.

According to the district, the latest data revealed that 454 students, or 3.4 percent of the student population, had tested positive in the last seven days.

"When the percent of students testing positive is at or below 1 percent for two weeks, the district will return to a face covering optional status," Hoover City Schools said in a statement.

The face covering rules apply to all activities inside the school buildings, the district said, though not during after-hours athletic events.

Those events still will follow the Alabama High School Athletic Association COVID-19 guidelines —that mirror the Alabama Department of Public Health guidelines — stating that face coverings are strongly recommended, but not required.

The district said it assumed contact tracing duties when agencies responsible for the practice proved unable to perform the job.

Middle school and high school nurses had been tasked with conducting the contact tracing and sending out letters informing parents about their children being close contacts.

"When students rotate classes throughout the day, the number of potential close contacts becomes unmanageable," the district said in a statement. "Until further notice, parents of middle and high school students should assume their child has the potential of being exposed and check their child daily for any possible symptoms."