State says schools should start in-person with all wearing masks
August 6, 2021 | By Lisa Scagliotti
Schools should open fully in-person later this month with all students and staff wearing masks. A COVID-19 vaccine clinic is scheduled for Crossett Brook Middle School on Sunday, Aug. 8, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Photo by Gordon Miller.
With the start of school fewer than three weeks away, state officials this week released guidance addressing COVID-19 with the goal for all schools to start fully in-person with everyone wearing masks.
Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine and Education Secretary Dan French write in a joint memo dated Aug. 4 and posted Aug. 5: “Our goal is to maintain full in-person instruction throughout the school year.”
Vaccines will play a key role in the advice to schools, Levine and French said, both in terms of their effectiveness in preventing serious illness and death, and with regard to Vermont’s high vaccination rate among those age 12 and older who are eligible for the immunizations.
As of this week just over 84% of those eligible for the vaccine in Vermont have been immunized, according to Health Department data.
A year ago there was a state of emergency declared due to the pandemic and the state issued mandatory guidance to school districts. That declaration ended in June. So as schools prepare to open at the end of this month across the state, the Agency of Education and Department of Health will be issuing “a series of advisory memos instead of formal guidance documents,” Levine and French said.
Their first memo is short, outlining several key recommendations for K-12 schools to follow as the 2021-22 school year opens:
Stay home when sick. This pertains to students and staff to not go to school if they have symptoms of COVID-19, a temperature above 100.4°F, or if they are directed to quarantine after testing positive or being a close contact of someone who has COVID-19.
Begin the school year with all wearing masks. The recommendation is to require masks for all students and staff regardless of vaccination status for the first 10 days of school. During that time, schools should determine the percentage of students who are vaccinated given that those age 12 and older are eligible for the vaccine.
After the first 10 days of school, the memo states, “masks should no longer be required for all those eligible for vaccination when the vaccination rate (two doses of a two-dose vaccine) among students is equal to or greater than 80% of the school’s currently eligible population.”
This part seems to contradict a statement French made at this week’s COVID-19 press briefing when he said: “Once at least 80% of students in a school receive their first dose we will recommend schools require masks only for unvaccinated students and staff.” The memo released after the news conference recommends that masks not be required of anyone over age 12 — regardless of their vaccination status — once 80% of the students in a school who are eligible for the vaccine have received both doses.
Waterbury Roundabout contacted Health Department and Education Agency public information staffers on Friday asking for clarification on that point. Ted Fisher, spokesman for the Agency of Education acknowledged that officials misstated the detail on this recommendation in the briefing. “This was a simple miscommunication. What is written in the advisory memo is the state’s recommendation,” he responded. He also noted that two doses of the vaccine — not one as stated in the news conference — would be needed to consider an individual fully immunized to count toward the 80% threshold. “After feedback from pediatricians the Covid-19 Leadership Teams decided to up it to 2 doses to ensure greater protection,” he explained.
Masks should be required indoors for students younger than 12, who are not eligible to be vaccinated yet. They can be removed when needed “for instructional or operational purposes,” the memo states.
At this week’s press briefing, Gov. Phil Scott, in giving an overview of the state’s advice for schools, said requiring mask-wearing for the youngest students who cannot be vaccinated is “consistent with the Health Department’s current advice encouraging unvaccinated people to wear masks indoors.”
Masks are required for all passengers on buses according to federal regulation, regardless of age or vaccination status.
Masks should not be required outdoors.
Details on how the Harwood Unified Union School District will proceed as school opens Aug. 26 still need to be worked out. Reached Friday, Superintendent Brigid Nease said she would be meeting with a group of superintendents next week to discuss the issue. “The recommendations are confusing,” she said.
The district’s administrative team will finalize details the week before school begins, she said. “We will be publishing out to families and the community by Aug. 20th,” she noted.
Sunday vaccine clinic at Crossett Brook Middle School
In an effort to get more students vaccinated before school opens, vaccine clinics are being scheduled at schools around Vermont for students and any community members. Gov. Phil Scott’s office on Friday released a list of these upcoming clinics and noted that more will be added.
In the Harwood district, Crossett Brook Middle School is on the list with a clinic this Sunday, Aug. 8, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The list of school clinics is on the HUUSD website. Other walk-in locations include pharmacies and community vaccine clinics where the Pfizer vaccine is offered. Pfizer is the only vaccine approved for individuals age 12-17.
More information on walk-in clinics and details specific to vaccines for the 12-17 age group are on the Vermont Health Department website.