As states and school systems around the country are dropping their mask mandates, public health officials have concluded that masks helped reduce covid transmission in schools.
As of last week, just 15 percent of the country was in an area designated as “high,” based on a metric that takes into account case counts as well as hospital admissions. Those are the only areas where the CDC now recommends mandatory masks. The rest of the country is classified as having “medium” or “low” disease levels.The study was conducted during the delta variant wave of coronavirus cases, and overall case rates fell over the course of the investigation.
But if caseloads rise again, there may be pressure to reinstitute mask rules, and this new data may be instructive.“CDC will continue to follow the data and science and ensure our recommendations meet the moment we’re in,” agency spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund said.
Vaccination rates in the school districts studied ranged from 13.5 to 18.6 percent of students and staff members. The study took place from August to October 2021.