COVID-19 Masks May Persist In Solon Schools After Holidays

SOLON, OH — Northern Ohio is in the midst of a COVID-19 surge and the omicron variant of the virus was just confirmed to be in the Buckeye State.

As the health situation continues to evolve, the Solon Schools are re-evaluating a plan to possibly roll back COVID-19 mask mandates within the district after the holiday break. It is too soon to tell what the district will do when the holidays are over, officials said.

Last week, there the Solon Schools confirmed that 22 students had tested positive for COVID-19 and four staffers also contracted the virus.

"This is our last week of school before the two-week winter break. We have traditionally seen notably higher positive case counts following the holidays and a similar trend after break in January is likely given the community spread around us," a district spokesperson said in a statement to the Board of Education on Monday.

• Read more: Masks Or No Masks? Solon Schools Plan For Future

School officials said they're still committed to evaluating their COVID-19 protocols in January.

"At the same time, the situation now — with increased cases and community spread coupled with the uncertainty of the new omicron variant — is very different from when we first announced our intention to evaluate the continued need for required masks in all our schools," district officials said.

The Cleveland Clinic and other northern Ohio-based hospital systems have delayed nonessential surgeries to preserve bed space in their facilities. In Northeast Ohio, according to the Ohio Hospital Association, one in four hospitalized patients have COVID-19 (more than 1,000 patients).

One in three intensive care unit patients (280 patients total) in Northeast Ohio are battling COVID-19, the association added.