L.A. County lifted its indoor mask mandate and Citrus should do the same.
The mandate has been in place since July 17, 2021, and was lifted on March 4.
The county has decided to follow new metrics that prove that mask-wearing is no longer necessary inside most places.
The significant change is from how the county measures the spread of COVID-19. The old system measured transmission while the new monitors COVID-19 hospitalizations and overall cases, L.A. County said in a brief on March 3.
Masks are still required on public transit, emergency shelters, health care settings, correctional detention facilities and homeless shelters.
Childcare sites and K-12 schools will be required to follow the mandate until March 12. The county will then leave these facilities to determine their policies.
Citrus is not recognizing the county’s changes by sticking to their policy, and this comes at a cost to students.
If a student has received both vaccinations and a booster shot, they can reduce their chances of getting and transmitting the virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement.
It is redundant to have students prove they are COVID negative every week and wear masks afterward.
Given the updated policy by the county, if students are fully vaccinated, and can show proof of this, then wearing masks is unnecessary.
The new tracking methods are a better measurement of COVID-19 cases in the county, according to the brief from L.A. County. Proving vaccination status should eliminate the time-consuming COVID-19 tests every week.
The same student that takes these weekly tests and wears a mask at school will go around the rest of the county without one.
Citrus should update its practices. The school has a stricter COVID-19 mask policy than one of the toughest counties in the state.
Citrus should follow the county and revise its policies to reflect the new way of interpreting data.
The mask mandate needs to go.
