Tuesday, March 01, 2022

Eventually Getting Rid Of The Masks

California's governor, Gavin Newsollini, has said that March 12th is the date that schools can ditch face masks.  Not March 11th, not March 1st, but March 12th.  You know, because it's science.  Actually it's not science, it's science!, but whatever.

Yesterday my district put out this email, in which I redacted only the name of the district:

Good afternoon,

Today, state officials announced that face coverings will move from being required when indoors on school campuses to being strongly recommended after March 11. 

In alignment with this announcement, [district] will lift its current indoor face covering requirements at all [district] schools, offices and facilities on March 12, for all individuals regardless of vaccination status. Face coverings will still be strongly recommended for individuals on school campuses. 

Until March 12, all individuals will continue to be required to wear face coverings indoors on our campuses, regardless of vaccination status.

We recognize that there are a variety of very strong feelings regarding face coverings. For some individuals, relaxing these requirements will cause anxiety and stress while others will advocate for a more rapid move to only recommending masks. Throughout the pandemic, [district] has followed the guidance and advice of our public health and epidemiology experts and that is what we continue to do as we implement this change. The health and safety of our students, staff and community remains our priority and our investments in COVID-19 testing, mental health supports and availability of PPE will remain in place. 

We need your support as we make this transition. Please have patience with the situation and with each other during this transition period. We are all excited to help our students continue connecting and engaging while following evolving health and safety requirements.

Thank you for the flexibility you have demonstrated over the past two years in supporting our students and school communities.

We've already had teachers send out panicked emails, saying they're going to segregate masked vs unmasked students, saying that they might not be able to come to work, etc.  Insanity.

8 comments:

Math Teacher said...

Why March 12? Why not now? Why are masks necessary between now and March 11 but not on March 12? What will happen at the stroke of midnight on March 12?

Math Teacher said...

And dear God -- out district dropped the mask mandate last April. Some teachers and students are hangers-on, but the vast majority have been enjoying school mask-free. Those panicking teachers are out of their minds!

lgm said...

Is that the expected date that your county will reach 'low risk' per the CDC, should the current trend continue?

Darren said...

lgm: As of today, only people working in schools are required to wear masks. No one else in the state is, unless there's a county mandate somewhere, which there isn't in Sacramento County.

Math Teacher: what happens at the stroke of midnight is that the governor can smile and say, "Yeah, *I'm* in charge. We do it *my* way."

Kevin said...

Clearly on March 1th at midnight the covid fairies will return and take covid away.

This has been a joke since day 1. And no one should ever listen to the CDC again after they said they withheld data about the vaccine because it might cause hesitancy. And we still don't know what it is.

Ellen K said...

My only solution is a flyover dumping massive amounts of Xanax onto California's most paranoid and indoctrinated communities.

Anonymous said...

Maybe because Friday, March 13, 2020, was the last date that a lot of office workers actually worked in the office?

Darren said...

That's "science"?