Starting Feb. 22, students at Los Angeles Unified schools will be allowed to go maskless outdoors while on campus. While inside, they’ll have to keep wearing masks for now.
, when students returned to campuses for the first time since the pandemic’s onset.
At the beginning of this school year, both California and L.A. County health officials advised that schools could allow students to remove their masks in outdoor settings. Then came the omicron surge: L.A. County officials said schools should require students to begin wearing masks outdoors., the county’s Department of Public Health said outdoor masking was no longer necessary. The LAUSD change announced Friday brings the school district in line with the latest county advice.
Indoor masking is another story. Earlier this week, California health officials said a blanket indoor mask rule for K-12 schools, even as the state’s masking requirement lifts for most other indoor settings. However, the state’s top health official promised to revisit the indoor mask rule for schools in the near future, calling the change “a matter of when, not if.”L.A. County Department of Public Health officials have not lifted their indoor mask mandates, including one for K-12 schools.
Even if state and local officials were to lift their school mask mandates, LAUSD’s labor agreement with United Teachers Los Angeles would continue to demand masking. On Feb. 14, union president Cecily Myart-Cruz said it would be “premature” to end mask mandates.Kyle Stokes reports on the public education system — and the societal forces, parental choices and political decisions that determine which students get access to a “good” school .