Masks To Be Optional In Maplewood Schools, But Kids And Parents Disagree

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The South Orange-Maplewood School District will lift its school mask mandate starting this coming Monday, leaving only a few New Jersey districts with indoor mask mandates in place. However, many are not on board with the change, according to a survey conducted by the district this week.

While 64 percent of parents said they wanted the district to be mask-optional, only 49 percent of high school and middle school students favored a mask-optional plan, as do 53 percent of staff.

Twice as many parents (2,612) as students filled out the survey.

Twenty-eight percent of parents said they'll continue asking their kids to mask up if the policy is mask-optional, but 47 percent of kids said they'll keep wearing them, as did 43 percent of staff.

The district said they will still require masks in large gatherings and in other situations.

Vaccination rates are high in the district, including more than 94 percent of kids over 12 having been vaccinated.

The SOMSD dashboard reported 16 new cases last week, as opposed to 5 each of the two previous weeks. In late December, the number was 45 in one week.

A parent group, the "SOMA for Safe Return to School" group — which protested a year ago when Maplewood schools stayed remote into March — had asked the district to lift mask mandates and has advocated for other changes.

The district went mask-optional for outdoor school facilities as of this past Monday, the day the state dropped its school mask mandates.

COVID Trends

In Maplewood there have been a total of 46 deaths of residents to the virus since the pandemic started. South Orange has lost 21 residents with the virus.

Children are less likely to get seriously ill with COVID than adults. However, the CDC has called children losing a parent to COVID a "hidden pandemic."

And parents and children have experienced long COVID, as one North Jersey mom shared last year.

The state of New Jersey is urging parents to talk to their own pediatrician.

People can get information about Essex County testing, vaccines, and boosters here.

In America, more than 951,000 people have died of COVID since the start of the pandemic. The daily death rate is highest right now in these states.

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