Rochester Public Schools considers making masks optional
Changes could be coming to Rochester Public Schools’ mask requirement.
Interim Supt. Kent Pekel tweeted Friday that the district is “actively looking at criteria for making masks recommended but optional” at RPS.
Students and staff in the district have been required to wear face coverings while indoors since the start of the school year.
“We are looking hard at the data and reviewing expert opinion,” said Pekel. “I hope to be able to announce the criteria we will use in the near future.”
No timetable has been set on removing the mask restriction.
In a follow-up email, Pekel said the criteria may include the level of community transmission, vaccination rates, and other factors.
The potential loosening of the district’s mask mandate comes as states and school boards across the country — from California to New Jersey — are loosening restrictions of their own amid falling Covid-19 case rates.
On Monday, the Rochester City Council let a temporary citywide mask mandate expire after three weeks. To the north, Minneapolis and St. Paul jointly ended vaccine and testing restrictions on restaurants and bars.
In relaxing Covid-related policies, officials across the political spectrum have cited declining cases and hospitalizations, waning public support for the restrictions, and a desire to shift toward an endemic response.
Graphic courtesy Olmsted County Public Health
In Olmsted County, the latest seven-day case rate dropped by 60 percent from the week prior. While new hospitalizations have remained relatively consistent with omicron, the percentage of Covid patients in the ICU has dropped to its lowest level since before the delta wave of late summer.
About 81 percent of eligible Olmsted County residents five and over have been fully vaccinated for Covid-19, among the highest rates in the state.
Adjustments to quarantine restrictions
Separately on Friday, the district announced it would cease contact tracing for K-12 — and shift its resources to PreK programming.
The end of contract tracing means students placed in quarantine will be able to return to school on Monday as long as they are symptom-free.
RPS still encourages testing before children return to school.
In an email to parents, the district said it would focus on PreK children because their age group is not yet eligible for vaccination.
Parents at the elementary school level will continue to be notified when there is a positive case in the child’s class; however, the same will not be done for secondary students due to their constant rotation of classes.
Prior to rolling back its contact tracing efforts, the district had required students quarantine for up to 14 days after being identified as a close contact of another Covid-positive student.
Sean Baker is a Rochester journalist and the founder of Med City Beat.
