West Hartford Schools Will End Mask Mandate This Month: Report

WEST HARTFORD, CT — Starting next month, West Hartford students and staff will no longer need to wear masks while in schools, CT Insider reported.

Superintendent Tom Moore said the West Hartford school system will end its mask mandate at the end of February, and he cited the district's vaccination high rate as contributing to his decision, the news outlet said.

As of Feb. 9, 85 percent of West Hartford residents are fully vaccinated — including 93.3 percent of children ages 12-17 and 56.45 percent of children ages 5-11, according to town data.

"The reality now is that the Department of Public Health has stated that in many places in Connecticut, it is the right time, and safe, to move away from mandatory masking," Moore wrote in a letter to parents, as reported by CT Insider.

Students and staff members can continue wearing masks, and Moore said the district will still provide them, the news outlet reported.

Read more from CT Insider.

The news comes less than a week after the town lifted its "local universal" indoor mask mandate for most other municipal facilities.

Read more: West Hartford Lightens Mask Mandate For Most Municipal Buildings

"We are comfortable that with the current and decreasing infection rates and with the Governor and neighboring communities lifting their mask mandates, a community mandate is no longer necessary as a mitigation tool," Mayor Shari G. Cantor said in a statement announcing the lift.