Mask requirements in Michigan's schools are all over the map

With COVID-19 cases high and rising across Michigan, and the first day of school rapidly aproaching, school and public health leaders are facing a key decision: whether or not to require masks inside school buildings.

Those decisions are now displayed on an interactive map that parents and community members across the state have helped to "crowdsource" in recent days.

Available at https://bit.ly/MImaskmap, it's an ever-evolving patchwork of red, yellow, green, gray and black pins on a Google map of the state - and it changes nearly daily. The University of Chicago's COVID Atlas team has adapted the map by overlaying it on a map of COVID-19 case rates in the counties where schools are located.

Red pins show districts -- including Plymouth-Canton Community Schools -- that have decided to stop short of following the strong recommendations of national, state and county health experts. These districts are not yet requiring masks be worn by all inside school buildings regardless of vaccination status.

Districts that have held this position in Southern states where school has already begun have had experienced a high number of children needing to leave school to quarantine after exposure to a classmate infected with the coronavirus. Some of these districts have decided to start requiring masks after all, but only after children have become sick.

Green pins on the Michigan Mask Map, on the other hand, indicate public school districts, private schools and higher education institutions that are requiring masks indoors at all times, in line with public health experts' guidance.

Some districts are only requiring masks when the counties they're located in are colored orange or red on the CDC's County View map, indicating Substantial or High transmission of coronavirus in that area. At the time this article is being published, seven of Michigan's 83 counties have case rates below the Substantial level. Rates across the state have risen steadily since July, as a result of the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus.

The yellow and gold pins indicate schools and higher education institutions that have set a mask requirement for some of the students, faculty and staff in their buildings -- for instance, for those who are too young to be vaccinated or who interact closely with those who are too young to be vaccinated.

Many of the yellow pins on the map are that color because of county public health orders. Genesee, Allegan and Kalamazoo counties, for instance, have all issued orders for masks to be worn by students and staff through grade 6 in all educational facilities in their counties, and recommend masks for all others.

Gray pins indicate districts that have not yet announced a final decision on masks for the school year, and black pins are reserved for the true outlier districts that are "permitting" masks but not recommending them.

In recent days, many of the pins on the map have changed color, as county public health orders took effect or school leaders changed their original stance. Parents and community members across the state have organized to petition and write letters to their local school and health leaders, as well as state officials at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services who still hold the power to issue a public health order applying to all schools in the state.

School board meetings have featured public comments from dozens of citizens, including medical professionals calling for masks as a crucial means of preventing cases that could overwhelm clinics and hospitals in Michigan this fall just as Southern hospitals are now overwhelmed.

The role of children in spreading coronavirus to adults, especially unvaccinated and immunocompromised ones, has become clearer through recent research. Research has also shown that many adults and children infected with the coronavirus are able to transmit the virus for several days before they develop any symptoms, and that many children only experience mild symptoms.

An illustration commissioned by University of Michigan epidemiologist and Plymouth resident Emily Somers, Ph.D., shows the importance of universal masking, as opposed to optional masking, in preventing the spread of coronavirus:

While children are less likely than older adults to develop serious COVID-19 illness and death, parents of children with underlying health conditions have spoken up repeatedly about the extra risk they fear their children will face if not everyone in their classroom is masked.

Some liken it to the situation with severe food allergies, where schools now prohibit peanut butter or other specific foods in classrooms in order to protect a single highly allergic child.

But because COVID-19 has been known to sicken and even kill children who have no underlying illness, experts call for universal masking, not just around children with medical conditions.

Vaccination is now available to anyone over age 12, and hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine have been given safely. Employers are now beginning to require vaccination or masking and regular testing for their employees. Cases of COVID-19 have dropped in age groups that have had high rates of vaccination. Third doses of vaccine are now available to people whose immune systems are weakened by medical conditions or treatments such as cancer chemotherapy.

Federal regulators are expecting to consider data on vaccination of children unde the age of 12 this fall, which could lead to approval of a vaccine for grade school children within a month or two of the start of school. Even after such an approval, it will take at least five weeks for even the first-vaccinated children to reach full immunity.

If you know of a mask policy in a school district or private/charter school that is not listed on the map, please comment below.