Masks Required In MOCO Schools, Regardless Of Vaccination Status

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — Students, faculty and visitors will be required to wear masks in school this year regardless of vaccination status, the Montgomery County Public Schools Board of Education announced at its meeting Tuesday.

In Montgomery County Public Schools, 45 to 52 percent of students are under age 12 and have not had the opportunity to get the vaccine, Superintendent Monifa McKnight said at the Board meeting.

"As we think about prioritizing bringing them back into school for in-person instruction in the fall and to be able to prosper and learn academically to thrive in those environments, we do need to take into serious consideration what that means," said McKnight. "New information is coming forward every day, every week."

She noted that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended masks for every over the age of 2 in schools last week regardless of vaccination status, as reported here by NPR.

"We've taken this research and taken it into consideration in terms of planning for the fall, said McKnight. "So you will see our recommendations based and grounded in the foundation of a lot of that research."

The move comes on the same day that the CDC announced its new recommendation that all students wear masks, regardless of vaccination status. The CDC is also updated some of its previous guidance that said vaccinated adults could unmask indoors — it now says that people in areas of high or substantial transmission should continue to wear their masks, according to CBS News. Montgomery County is currently listed as "moderate," a step below substantial on the scale of cases.

High rates of transmission of the Delta variant have made local and national leaders reconsider mask policies, as case counts rise among unvaccinated people.

Montgomery County reported a 1.4 percent positivity rate in the 14 days leading up to Tuesday. Sixty-three percent of the county's residents are fully vaccinated.

This story has been updated with the latest available guidance on masks.