One week into the 2023–2024 school year, a Maryland elementary school has reinstated mask mandates. Because “three or more” individuals tested positive for Covid, an email sent to parents said, “students and staff in identified classes or activities will be required to mask while in school for the next 10 days, except while eating or drinking.”
The Rosemary Hills Elementary School principal, Rebecca Irwin Kennedy, sent a letter to parents on Tuesday informing them of the mask policy. Kennedy also said in the email that “at-home rapid test kits will be sent home and made available for students” and that students who develop Covid symptoms should stay home from school and be tested for the virus.
A DC area elementary school — Montgomery County, Maryland — is reinstating a mask mandate — N95’s — for third graders over a few kids testing positive for covid. Here’s the letter. They’re coming with masks for your kids again. Get ready. Read this insanity. pic.twitter.com/LZs4N19XLL
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) September 5, 2023
Montgomery County Public Schools’ Spring 2023 mask policy is voluntary, except “as required by CDC COVID-19 guidelines for isolation, for individuals who become sick at school or are returning after the minimum 5-day isolation period,” adding that “masks may be temporarily recommended or required in local outbreaks of respiratory illness.” MCPS lifted its original Covid mask mandate in March 2022, and there is no statewide mask requirement.
When contacted, Rosemary Hills staff referred National Review to the district’s main office, which hasn’t yet returned a request for comment. It is unknown whether or not students can opt out of the mask mandate, but the letter does not indicate that such an option is available.
The return of mandatory masking in schools marks the beginning of an already tumultuous school year for the Maryland district. Multiple religious families brought a lawsuit against MCPS this summer after the district removed opt-out options for its gender and sexuality curriculum. Parents also took the district to court over its gender policy that conceals a child’s gender status from their parents. Recently, MCPS promoted a principal with 18 counts of sexual assault, harassment, and bullying reported against him and only investigated his conduct after a bombshell Washington Post report.
Mask mandates are returning to companies and healthcare facilities in New York and California. Morris Brown College in Georgia also reinstated a two-week mask policy in August. Anthony Fauci told Americans on Saturday to listen to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mask recommendations as Covid cases rise, even though the doctor said in 2020 that masks don’t provide the “perfect protection” people think they do.