Masks Optional In Sarasota Schools Following Low Positivity Rates

SARASOTA, FL —Starting Monday, masks in Sarasota County Schools are optional, the district announced in an email to parents.

The temporary emergency mask mandate, enacted in August, said that the mandate would be in effect until the county positivity rate falls below 8 percent for three consecutive days. According to data from the Sarasota County Department of Public Health posted on the district’s website, the positivity rate reached that threshold every day from Wednesday until Saturday. On Saturday, the county positivity rate was 4.11%, the lowest it has been in a month, and a far cry from one month prior, when it was 14.74%.

According to the policy, which will remain in effect until Nov. 23 (90 days after its passage by the Sarasota County School Board), the face mask requirement will be automatically reinstated whenever the positivity rate in Sarasota County rises above 10%.

The announcement follows a Sept. 21 school board vote to make masks optional for students and staff in outdoor spaces.

The ruling also updated its contact tracing protocols to align with new guidance from Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Lapado. Parents or legal guardians of students known to have been in direct contact with an individual who received a positive diagnostic test for COVID-19 may either allow the child to attend school, so long as they are asymptomatic, or quarantine the students for a maximum of seven days from the date of last contact. Students currently quarantined who are asymptomatic can return to school immediately, per the new policy.

The school district has not announced any changes to its contact tracing policy. The district’s news release urged students and staff to “continue to wear a face mask when indoors to help keep the positivity rate below 8%.”

A teacher at Sarasota High School told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that roughly 10 to 15 percent of students wore masks Monday.

The district currently does not have any official social distancing policies. "There is no 'policy' for social distancing," district spokesperson Kelsey Whealy told Patch. "We are still being advised by the local Department of Health to implement social distancing when possible. Social distancing cannot be guaranteed and is dependent on the number of students and staff in any location at a given time."

Whealy said the district has "routinely made families & employees aware of DOH-hosted vaccination opportunities since they first became available in our community."

The urgency order has been a flashpoint in the community, with many arguing that it violated Gov. DeSantis’ ban on mask mandates, a Venice chiropractor signed 500 exemption forms at a mass exemption event, prompting Superintendent Brennan Asplen to issue an updated policy limiting exemptions to medical doctors, osteopathic physicians, or licensed or advanced registered nurse practitioners.