Kentucky schools in low COVID-19 areas can drop mask requirements under new state guidance

Masks can now be optional in schools in areas with low COVID-19 case numbers, Kentucky officials announced Monday.

Revised state health guidance comes days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said schools can end mask requirements as COVID-19 numbers continue to decline after January's surge.

"The metrics are all continuing to move in the right direction, and they're moving very quickly in the right direction," Dr. Steven Stack, Kentucky's public health commissioner, said in a Monday press conference.

Under the new state guidance, communities are labeled as low, medium or high risk based on COVID-19 case numbers, hospital admissions and occupancy rates.

Areas in the high risk category should continue universal mask requirements, the guidance says. Medium risk categories should consider requiring masks, while both medium and low categories should use targeted mask policies following outbreaks.

Quarantines are no longer required for those exposed at school who are not experiencing symptoms at all risk levels, state education commissioner Jason Glass told superintendents in a memo Monday.

School districts still have final say over whether they will follow the new guidance for their schools. A bill facing Kentucky lawmakers to prohibit school districts and colleges from requiring masks has not passed into law.

Several Kentucky school districts previously implemented mask policies that would automatically make masks optional as local COVID-19 numbers dropped. Some districts already moved to a mask-optional policy prior to the new CDC guidance.

After the new CDC guidance came out Friday, some noted that many districts, including Kentucky's largest district in Louisville, would still be considered high transmission and would need to continue masking.

"As of last week, we were still in a predominantly high risk category," Stack said. "You're going to see that change quickly."

Mark Hebert, a spokesman for Jefferson County Public Schools, said the new guidance doesn't currently impact the district because the county is in the high risk category.

JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio has "said he would make recommendations to the school board based on guidance from the CDC, the Kentucky Department for Public Health and the Kentucky Department of Education," Hebert said. "That has not changed."

Beshear also announced he would relax the state government's mask requirements for employees and visitors in areas controlled by the executive branch Tuesday.

Both Beshear and Stack asked for people to support those who choose to continue to wear masks.

"If you're somebody that's been fired up about your freedom not to wear a mask, it is certainly someone's freedom to wear a mask," Beshear said.

Kentucky reported 1,406 new cases and 42 new deaths from Saturday, followed by 481 new cases and 22 new deaths on Sunday. On Monday, the state reported 671 new cases and 34 new deaths. The statewide positivity rate continues to decline, sitting at 8.56%.

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Reach Olivia Krauth at okrauth@courierjournal.com and on Twitter at @oliviakrauth.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky schools in low COVID-19 areas can drop mask requirements