Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff, Students, and School Board Members:
At this time, we are extending the indoor mask mandate for another 2 weeks (10 school days) to be revisited again on October 29.
In the last two weeks the seven-day county COVID positive totals have started to trend downward. Our county had a high of 184 (7 -day total) on Oct. 1. Today the county totals are still at 91 cases for a 7-day period. Three times as high as they were when we began masking. Our school cases of COVID have gone from 4, when we instituted the mandate, to now a total of 25 cases. In the past two weeks it seems that our rate of new cases within our schools has slowed and the number of students and staff that we have absent due to quarantining has diminished. We are all hoping that we have seen the peak in our area and that the numbers of positive cases will continue to drop.
We are still fortunate that none of the positive cases that have been brought into our schools have resulted in any spread within the school. All have been linked to community transmission.
This mask mandate will continue to be monitored, and it will be lifted when the conditions that caused its implementation have significantly subsided. At the end of this time-period you will be notified if the mask mandate will continue or if it will be lifted.
Thank you for your patience, understanding, and cooperation with this difficult situation. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Ronald C. Ramsay
Superintendent of Schools
MSAD #37