CT School Mask Mandate Guidelines: 5 Things To Know

CONNECTICUT — Many Connecticut school districts have announced plans to end school mask mandates once the statewide mandate expires Feb. 28.

The state Department of Public Health and state Department of Education released school mask use guidance publicly late Friday.

COVID-19 cases among both students and staff have been on a downward trend since mid-January. There were 202 cases reported among staff and 1,031 among students between Feb.10-16.

Below are some answers to what the new guidance means for Connecticut:

Is the state encouraging testing before ending mask mandates?

The state will provide school districts with two test kits (four tests total) per student and staff member.

DPH is encouraging school community members to perform a rapid test on the first morning before mask optional policies take effect.

Are there any specific metrics tied to potential masking decisions?

DPH’s guidelines didn’t provide school districts with specific metrics to help them decide whether to keep mask mandates.

Instead, it recommends decision-makers consider the “risk tolerance” of a school district, current case rates, and vaccine coverage among students and staff.

DPH also pointed school districts to state and federal COVID-19 data sources, including the state’s COVID-19 alert map, which shows 153 of 169 towns in the state’s highest alert level for infections.

Waterbury outlined three criteria the district must meet before ending its mask mandate.

What about Pre-K programs?

Children under 5, which includes most pre-schoolers, aren’t eligible yet for COVID-19 vaccinations.

Pre-K programs operating outside of school districts, as well as other childcare centers, should continue to operate under the Office of Early Childhood guidance.

OEC is also discontinuing its mask mandate for children and providers effective Feb. 28, but does encourage providers to continue with their own mandates due to the current spread of COVID-19 throughout the state.

“This guidance is based on the fact that children under 5 cannot be vaccinated, leaving them at higher risk for infection and for spreading the virus,” OEC Commissioner Beth Bye said in a statement. “It also considers that child care workers can now be vaccinated, boosted, and wear masks to help mitigate their workplace risks.”

Have some towns decided already?

Some of Connecticut’s biggest school districts, including Waterbury, Stamford, Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport, will keep their mask mandates beyond Feb. 28. Many small and mid-sized districts will end mandates around Feb. 28.

• Bethel: Mandate ends Feb. 27.
• Brookfield: Mandate ends March 1.
• Danbury: Decision expected before Feb. 28.
• Fairfield: Mandate will end.
• Greenwich: Mask mandate ends March 1.
• Milford: Mask mandate ends Feb. 28.
• New Canaan: Mandate ends Feb. 28.
• Ridgefield: Mandate ends Feb. 28.
• Shelton: No decision yet, but mandate likely ending.
• Stamford: Aiming to end mandate March 15.
• Trumbull: No decision yet, but mandate likely ending.
• Wallingford: Mandate ends Feb. 28.
• Westport: Mandate ends Feb. 28.
• Wilton: Mandate ends Feb. 28.

Is the state transitioning to an endemic response?

DPH is generally encouraging school districts to manage COVID-19 as they would any other respiratory virus.

“When applied in the PreK-12 school setting, this model focuses more on response to clusters of cases, outbreaks, evidence of ongoing transmission in schools, and/or significant increases in community transmission risk and relies less on individual case investigation, contact tracing, and quarantining of staff and students following school exposures,” DPH wrote in its guidance.