ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Governor Larry Hogan on Thursday called on the Maryland State Board of Education to lift its school mask mandates.
“A growing number of medical professionals, parents, and bipartisan state officials throughout the nation are calling for an end to school mask requirements,” Governor Hogan wrote in a letter to the board.“
He cited dramatic improvements to Maryland's COVID-19 metrics, and the widespread availability of vaccines.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state have now dropped below 1,000 — a 71 percent drop since its peak last month which reached just shy of 3,500 hospitalizations.
The current COVID-19 positivity rate in Maryland is also down 82 percent from peak to just 5.12 percent.
"Maryland emerged from the Omicron wave faster than just about any other state. We continue to report substantial declines in all of our key COVID-19 health metrics, including the lowest case rate in the country," added Hogan in his letter. "Maryland also continues to be one of the most vaccinated states, including vaccinating school age children at a rate above the national average."
It's a push one school expert with Johns Hopkins says would need to come with some fallback options.
"There should be some clear metrics about the masking because we don't know if we will need to return to the masks, for example," said Annette Anderson, the Deputy Director for Johns Hopkins Center for Safe and Healthy Schools. "So I think it would be really important for us to try to establish some benchmark."
🚨🚨@GovLarryHogan calls on Maryland State Board of Education to rescind its school mask policy.
— Kata Hall Burke (@katadhall) February 10, 2022
Cites improved health metrics, widespread availability of vaccines for school age children, growing consensus among medical professionals, parents, and bipartisan state officials. pic.twitter.com/4LMc2QgTME
To the delight of some state lawmakers, Carroll County's Board of Education on Wednesday voted to eliminate mask requirements in their school system.
"The facts are clear, cloth masks do not stop COVID 19 transmission, and for any person who is especially vulnerable, wearing an N95 masks will protect them, the wearer, without forcing children as young as pre-school, who are at statistically no risk for serious COVID cases, to wear a mask," said Senator Justin Ready, and Delegates Susan Krebs, Haven Shoemaker and April Rose in a joint statement.
The decision by the Carroll Board of Education, though still faces some hurdles and requires further approval.
Back in December, the State Board of Education issued an emergency measure requiring all state public school districts to enforce mask mandates inside their buildings for 180 days.
"The State Board of Education action to rescind local authority should never have been taken and, if the State Board could call an emergency meeting in the Fall to impose this unscientific mandate they can certainly call an immediate emergency meeting to rescind it. We have already requested legislation to change the state COMAR regulations and restore the local control that was taken," added Senator Ready, and Delegates Krebs, Shoemaker and Rose.
The State Board's order did leave room for some exceptions, that could potentially allow for local districts to lift mask mandates themselves.
RELATED: Maryland Board of Education vote would give schools potential option to lift mask mandates
One is if 80 percent of a county's population is fully vaccinated, as defined and reported by the Maryland Department of Health.
Exception two is if a particular school verifies that 80 percent of their staff and students have been fully vaccinated.
The third is in the event the CDC reports a county with 14 consecutive days of moderate or low transmission rates of COVID-19 cases.
A Carroll County Schools spokesperson estimates at least 80 percent of staff are currently vaccinated.
Four Carroll County Public Schools were experiencing COVID outbreaks, according to a February 9 update from the Maryland Department of Health. In total 24 cases were reported among Linton Springs, Manchester Valley, and Mechanicsville Elementary Schools, and Mt. Airy Middle.
The Maryland Department of Health website says 71.35 percent of the entire population in Carroll County is vaccinated, not including boosters.
As of February 7, the Carroll County Health Department reported a positivity rate of 9.97 percent. Between February 1-8, there were 291 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Carroll County.
On Thursday night, some Howard County school parents said they plan to hold a rally pushing their local board of education to end mask requirements there.
Howard County's School Board already has a quarterly agenda meeting scheduled the same night. Topics include finding "off-ramps" to end masking in Howard County schools
The State Board of Education responded to Hogan's letter with this statement, saying they would review and re-evaluate the school mask policy during its next meeting on February 22.
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“The Maryland State Board of Education is watching with optimism as Covid-19 metrics improve in the State in order to provide safe in person instruction for our children and staff with minimal disruptions,” said State Board President Clarence C. Crawford. “In fact, the State Board issued the current not-to-exceed 180-day face covering emergency regulation with off ramps during the Omicron surge, in anticipation of an improving environment in which face coverings would no longer be needed as we learn to live with the virus.”
At each monthly meeting, the State Board reviews current COVID-19 metrics in the State to assess the need for the continuation of the regulation; the next review will occur at the next State Board meeting on February 22, 2022. As a transition to ultimately lifting the face covering requirement, these research-based off ramps allow local superintendents and school boards to unilaterally lift the requirement as follows:
1. If at least 80 percent of the county population in the county where the schools are located is fully vaccinated, as reported by MDH.
2. The local superintendent may lift the face covering requirement for a school facility or facilities after a principal or designated school official verifies that 80 percent of the school staff and students in the school facility have been fully vaccinated.
3. The local superintendent may lift the face covering requirement in schools if the county has sustained 14 consecutive days of moderate or low transmission rate of COVID-19 cases, as reported by the CDC.
“With the goal of protecting the health of all members of the education community, and ensuring a safe return to in-person learning for every child, the face covering requirement issued through emergency regulations was necessary in the face of high community spread, the lack of a vaccine for children under the age of 12, limited testing opportunities, and the emergence of the Omicron variant, all experienced during the first part of the 21-22 school year. The face covering requirement helped keep all of our schools open through the Fall – as many schools and entire districts closed around the country - and it helped our school systems weather the Omicron surge and preserve in-person learning for the vast majority of our students,” said State Superintendent of Schools Mohammed Choudhury. “We continue to emerge from the pandemic and transition to an environment that now includes readily available vaccines for school-aged children, ample testing opportunities, and a greater depth of understanding of Covid-19 and its impact. I look forward to closely working with members of the State Board during the upcoming State Board of Education meeting to reassess the emergency regulations and explore whether there is continual need for a statewide face covering requirement. At the same time, we will continue to remain laser focused on our mission to unapologetically lead and boldly confront the impact of the pandemic in our school communities, mitigate learning loss, accelerate student learning, and support the social and emotional needs of our children and staff.”
