Minnesota officials Wednesday backed new federal coronavirus guidance recommending that everyone in schools wear masks indoors when campuses reopen later this summer and fall.
That means everyone: students, teachers and staff, vaccinated and unvaccinated. It also means all the time, regardless of how many cases there are in the local community.
It’s not a mandate; actual decisions will most likely fall to individual school boards. St. Paul Public Schools has yet to decide.
But state and federal officials are urging the new recommendations be adopted. Officials said such measures are crucial for in-person learning and part of a strategy designed to have as many students as possible in school, not at home as many were last fall.
The guidance, issued Wednesday by the Minnesota Department of Education with the support of the Department of Health, should come as little surprise, since the delta variant of the coronavirus is spreading rapidly, finding fertile grounds in unvaccinated youth.
The total rise in cases across the nation is also being followed by a rise in the number of “breakthrough cases” — infections among the vaccinated — although scientists don’t fully understand the dynamics of these cases and the wider risk they might pose to public health.
Doctors, epidemiologists and public health experts urge everyone to get vaccinated, emphasizing the shots are safe and effective — especially effective against severe illness, hospitalization and death.
Currently, no vaccines are approved for children under 12, and no approval is expected before school starts — a fact not lost on parents, educators and public health experts. State health officials said the lack of immunity among students is central to their thinking: Some students might be at high risk or live with someone at high risk. People undergoing chemotherapy, for example, have weakened immune systems that might mean they are especially vulnerable to COVID, might not be cleared to take the vaccine, or might be likely to have limited immunity even after being vaccinated.
While COVID-19 is overwhelmingly not a lethal threat to children, some students have conditions that put them at risk, and leading pediatricians have cautioned that children are still susceptible to “long-haul COVID,” as well as other complications that may not be yet understood with a virus that has only been known to science for a year and a half.
The American Academy of Pediatrics on Tuesday also recommended full masking indoors in school, regardless of vaccination status.
MORE RECCOMENDATIONS
Indoor universal masking isn’t the only recommendation Minnesota officials announced Wednesday.
Here are the others, according to the state guidelines:
Get vaccinated: “All people ages 12 years and older should get vaccinated for COVID-19 before returning to in-person school, sports, or other activities to protect themselves and people around them who cannot get vaccinated.”
Distancing: “Schools should maintain at least 3 feet of physical distance between students within classrooms whenever possible.”
Stay home: “Students, teachers, and staff should stay home if they have signs of any infectious illness, and should contact their health care provider for testing and care. Students, teachers, and staff who have been fully vaccinated do not need to stay home, even if they have had recent close contact with a confirmed case so long as they remain asymptomatic and do not test positive. Follow CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) testing guidance for anyone exposed to a confirmed case.”
Get tested: “People who are not fully vaccinated and returning to in-person school, sports, or extracurricular activities (and their families) should get tested regularly for COVID-19, according to CDC guidance.”
Ventilation: “Schools should continue to strengthen good ventilation, rapid and thorough contact tracing in combination with isolation and quarantine, handwashing, respiratory etiquette, cleaning, and disinfection as important layers of prevention to keep schools safe.”
Education Commissioner Heather Mueller and Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm explained that the recommendations are “layered,” meaning they build on each other, each adding a new layer of protection.
‘CRITICAL’ FOR IN-PERSON
Since Minnesota is no longer in a state of emergency, none of these are mandates, state officials said. So ultimately, the decisions for each school would fall down the chain of governments that have power to determine such things: counties, cities and school boards. Those layers of governments could mandate masking in schools, state officials said, and determine how to enforce the mandates.
Nonetheless, Mueller used the word “must” to emphasize how strongly she feels.
“In-person learning is critical, not only when it comes to academics, but also for our students’ social-emotional well-being and mental health,” Mueller said. “As we head back to school this fall, we must implement measures to protect the health and safety of all of our students, staff and families.”
In St. Paul, the school board plans to make a decision about masking at their Aug. 10 meeting.
“Clearly our goal is to have both students and staff safe and present in schools,” said school district spokesman Kevin Burns. “Surely, the CDC guidelines and Department of Health announcement will weigh heavily.”
Like some other school systems, the district has created an online high school, although it hasn’t yet decided if a parallel K-8 track will be available.
Wednesday’s announcement only covers K-12, just as Tuesday’s CDC guidance did. In an afternoon conference call with reporters, Malcolm suggested the state will take its lead from the CDC regarding pre-K education, child care and higher education.
In a letter to students, faculty and staff Wednesday, University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel said that for the time being, “our guidance on mask wearing remains unchanged. Unvaccinated individuals should wear a mask indoors at all times. Vaccinated individuals may decide not to do so, or they may wear a mask if they choose. All individuals, regardless of their vaccination status, must wear a mask when a given space is officially posted as requiring mask usage.”
Gabel noted that none of the U campuses are currently located in any of the 14 Minnesota counties that meet the new CDC threshold for universal indoor masking everywhere.
WHY VACCINATED PEOPLE?
More than 99 percent of people currently hospitalized for COVID-19 are unvaccinated, state health officials have said.
But that’s hospitalizations — not cases.
The delta variant and the surge it’s fueling are poking holes in the idea that vaccines make people bulletproof to the virus.
In fact, fully vaccinated people are contracting the virus — and spreading it, officials have discovered. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, CDC director, said Tuesday that this spread is especially tricky because those who are vaccinated are often unaware that they have it because their symptoms are mild or non-existent.
Walensky cited this as a major reason why the CDC has reversed course and now recommends even vaccinated people mask up when indoors in areas where cases have reached high enough levels. This includes 14 Minnesota counties that are mostly rural, but also includes Scott County in the southwest metro.
REACTION
Education Minnesota, the state’s largest teachers union, said it supported the recommendations, although in a news release it acknowledged some vaccinated students and educators might be “disappointed” with the news.
“The delta variant has put our schools in a difficult spot,” Education Minnesota President Denise Specht said. “We must be honest about the situation and recognize the science is clear. The best way to keep our schools safe and open this year is to follow the strategies recommended by state and federal health officials.”
Several state House Republicans released a statement emphasizing that the final decision must be in the hands of local officials.
In a joint statement, Reps. Ron Kresha, R-Little Falls, and Sondra Erickson, R-Princeton, the party’s education leads in the Democratic-controlled chamber, said:
“These are decisions that should be made at the local level with the involvement of students and parents, and with no undue influence or pressure from the Minnesota Department of Education to implement these recommendations. Our parents, teachers, and local school districts have the experience and expertise necessary to make the decision that’s right for their schools, and we need to trust them to do so.”
