Montco Updates School Mask Guidance For Upcoming Year

NORRISTOWN, PA — In a turnaround from their guidance issued earlier this week, Montgomery County now advises universal masking indoors in its latest health and safety recommendations for the 2021-22 school year. That guidance applies to all teachers, students, and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status.

The change is in accordance with the latest update from the CDC, which revised its guidance amid the nationwide increase in coronavirus cases and the spread of the more contagious delta variant. Earlier this week, Montgomery County had announced that even unvaccinated individuals did not need to wear masks indoors in districts where case counts were low enough.

The county has also issued new masking guidance for the general public, which also aligns with the CDC's updates. Under the latest recommendations, unvaccinated people should wear masks if the community reaches the "moderate" level of transmission, which means that the incidence rate per 100,000 residents is 10 to 49, or the positivity rate is over 5 percent.

Vaccinated individuals don't need to worry about masks indoors unless cases rise into the "substantial" category: an incidence rate of 50 to 99 or a positivity rate of 8 to 9.9 percent.

The shifts represent the latest piece of caution exercised by officials, as Montgomery County, like much of the state, saw all of its key metrics rise over the past week.

However, officials are optimistic that things remain manageable.

"Obviously, I know we would all prefer to see these figures coming down," Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh shared Wednesday. "However, it's important to keep them in the necessary context. Our positivity rate (2.13 percent) is still below the 5 percent threshold considered to represent suppression of the virus."

The full updated school recommendations from the county can be viewed online here, while details on public masking guidance are available here.