rachelh@myweeklysentinel.com
PA — Governor Tom Wolf held a press conference on Tuesday, Aug. 31, concerning the decision to mandate masks in K-12 schools as well as daycares.
This is necessary to our future as a Commonwealth,” said Gov. Wolf, who claims that most of Pennsylvanians support this decision.
“My office has received an outpouring of messages from parents asking the administration to protect all children by requiring masks in schools,” said Gov. Wolf.
Gov. Wolf said that though he preferred for local school boards to make the decision, the Department of Health is seeing an increase in cases among children in state-wide statistics.
According to a Department of Health press release, The Pennsylvania Department of Health today confirmed that as of 12:00 a.m., Tuesday, Aug. 31, there were 3,249 additional positive cases of COVID-19, bringing the statewide total to 1,300,368. There are 1,850 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19. Of that number, 474 patients are in the intensive care unit with COVID-19. As of 11:59 p.m. Monday, Aug. 30, there were 21 new deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry, reported for a total of 28,235 deaths attributed to COVID-19.
“Doing nothing right now to stop COVID-19, that is just not an option,” said Wolf, who noted there are two important aspects to this decision: keeping students in classrooms and keeping students safe in a healthy learning environment.
“The science is clear. The Delta variant is highly transmissible and dangerous to the unvaccinated, many of whom are children too young to receive the vaccine. Requiring masks in schools will keep our students safer and in the classroom, where we all want them to be. “
“The reality we are living in now is much different than it was just a month ago,” said Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam. “With case counts increasing, the situation has reached the point that we need to take this action to protect our children, teachers and staff. The science is clear. If we want to keep our schools open, maintain classroom learning and allow sports and other activities to continue, masking significantly increases our chances of doing so.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics are recommending universal masking in schools to “reduce the risk that entire classrooms will need to quarantine due to a positive COVID-19 case.”
“After months apart, students and educators are eagerly returning to classrooms across Pennsylvania for the new school year,” said Secretary of Education Noe Ortega. “Unfortunately, we’ve already seen schools across the nation close because of COVID-19. Wearing masks is a proven strategy that will help Pennsylvania’s schools reduce the spread of COVID-19, protect their communities, and keep our students and educators where we know it’s vital for them to be – teaching, learning and growing together safely in their classrooms.”
The Order, signed by Acting Secretary Beam, applies to everyone indoors at K-12 public schools including brick and mortar and cyber charter schools, private and parochial schools, career and technical centers (CTCs).
“The challenge is that face coverings are very controversial, political, topic. This makes it very challenging, as a school leader, to keep a balance between student health and safety (socially and emotionally) and meet the needs and beliefs of the families within the community you serve,” said Dr. Eric Briggs, Superintendent of Canton Area School District. “Often times, the personal beliefs of families do not align with the intents of the Department of Education or the Department of Health. Therefore, division can occur within a once unified community. As a Commissioned Officer in the state of Pennsylvania, I am required to follow all mandates as presented before me from the PA DOH and PDE. Therefore, my hope is the community understands the difficult positions that school leaders are placed in when having to enforce mandates issued by state level officials. I have faith in our faculty, staff, and community, and I believe we will continue to work together to get through these very challenging times and will be better citizens as we continue to navigate these uncertain times.”
Dr. Eric Stair of Troy Area School District noted that the district had already mandated masks last week.
“As a district we are concerned about the safety and welfare of our students, faculty, and staff. We are concerned with spreading the COVID illness and concerned with keeping our schools open. We want our students to be safe and remain in school 5-days per week in the classroom with their teachers,” said Dr. Stair in a press release from last week. “When having to conduct close contact tracing in the school, the CDC has made it clear that when students are wearing masks appropriately, the students would not be considered close contacts and would not have to be excluded from school. For these reasons we feel the safest way to protect everyone in the school given the current COVID pandemic, is to require everyone to wear masks while on the bus and while inside the school buildings to include indoor sports and extra-curricular activities.“
The order takes effect 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7.