The San Diego Unified School District says that will no longer require students and employees to wear face masks while outdoors on campuses across their district.
On Tuesday, the Unified School District released a letter announcing this district update for its schools, as the number of COVID cases throughout the county has recently decreased in recent weeks.
However, the district says that students and staff will still be required to wear their masks indoors, regarding of their vaccination status.
“With active COVID-19 cases and positivity rates declining in our schools, we are pleased to announce an update to our outdoor masking policy,” the school district stated Tuesday. “Students, staff, and any other individuals on school grounds and district central office sites will no longer be required to wear masks outdoors, effective Feb. 16, 2022.”
In addition to the update, the district says that field trips will resume once again within the updated proper health and safety guidelines in place.
This also comes as the state's indoor masking mandate is set to expire tomorrow, Wednesday, February 16.
“This updated guidance does not apply to schools,” the district said on California's ruling. “In fact, the guidance specifies that masks are required for all individuals in indoor settings at schools, regardless of vaccination status.”
And although the numbers are decreasing, the district says that it will not get too confident going forward by becoming less secure on its precautions taken in regards to the pandemic.
“Although the surge of Omicron is waning, this highly transmissible variant of COVID-19 is still prevalent in our community,” the district stated. “In the months ahead, other variants of this virus are anticipated to cause new resurgences. The goal of the District is to keep our schools safe from the spread of the COVID-19 virus. No student, parent, or staff member should feel that coming to school increases the likelihood of getting COVID-19. Wearing masks indoors is the surest way to achieve that goal.”
