Classroom masking clarified: Montgomery Co. officials emphasize that requirements are limited
The medical officer for Maryland’s Montgomery County Public Schools, Dr. Patricia Kapunan, said in a letter to parents on Wednesday that “classroom outbreaks” of COVID-19 have been reported “in a few schools across the county.”
Kapunan explained that when three or more students or staff members in a classroom test positive for COVID-19, that it’s considered an outbreak.
The school system’s protocols this year call for masking in those classrooms when an outbreak occurs.
“Students who cannot safely and consistently mask due to young age, a medical condition or developmental disability are not required to do so,” Kapunan wrote.
During Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich’s weekly media briefing, Dr. Kisha Davis, the county’s health officer, said “I know everybody wants COVID to be gone and to not talk about it anymore, [but] COVID’s still here.”
Davis, who said her office worked closely with Kapunan on the policies in place in the county school system, added, “It certainly is reasonable to ask kids who have been exposed to an outbreak to mask for a short period of time.”
Davis emphasized that when the mask policy is required, “It’s not the entire school, it’s not the entire grade, it’s isolated to those kids that are affected for the shortest time period that we can do based on CDC recommendations.”
During Wednesday’s briefing, Davis added that there was an uptick in COVID-19 in the county, but the community level remains in the “low” category. She said the bump in COVID-19 numbers shouldn’t come as a surprise.
“The last couple of years we’ve seen a late summer wave — a wavelet — I would say,” and added, “What we are seeing is a pretty mild disease.”