Grayson County Schools announced on Thursday that the district’s mask mandate will transition to a mask recommendation for students and staff while inside school buildings.
“Effective Friday, Feb. 11, Grayson County Schools will recommend but not require that masks be worn inside our buildings,” the district said.
School officials said that based on federal and/or Kentucky Department for Public Health recommendations masks will continue to be required in the following circumstances:
- On buses, by federal Public Health Order. That mandate expires in mid-March.
- Isolation — Anyone returning after five days must wear a well-fitting mask upon return from isolation. If unable to do so, they should self-isolate from school for 10 full days.
- Exposure – Those who have been exposed to COVID-19 are required to wear a mask for a full 10 days from last exposure.
“Our district has thankfully seen a marked decrease in COVID numbers over the past weeks …,” officials said. “Our community health climate is improving, as well. Vaccinations are readily available for the majority of age groups, including our student population.”
Drop in COVID-affected students and staff over the last 10-plus days:
On January 30, the district had 496 students affected by the virus – 163 students were COVID positive and 333 students were in quarantine. Forty-three staff members were affected – 26 staff were COVID positive with 17 staff in quarantine.
On February 10, there are 39 students COVID positive with 67 in quarantine, while only four staff members are currently COVID positive and one staff member in quarantine.
Grayson County’s precipitous drop in COVID numbers:
On Tuesday, the Grayson County Health Department reported 257 new cases had been diagnosed since February 2, about 42.8 per day, down considerably from the over 80 new cases per day recorded during much of January.
Grayson County’s incident rate on Thursday was 99.5, down from February 2’s 235.1 rate of occurrence, but still well over the incident rate of 25 that indicates a “critical spread” of the virus within the community, according to the Kentucky Department for Public Health.
The number of active cases in Grayson County fell from 856 on February 2 to 467 on Tuesday, at 45.4 percent drop in active cases in less than a week.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
