A serious warning from state health officials as the school year begins about the role of masks.
They’re using the example of Albert Lea to stress that even without a statewide mandate districts should follow CDC guidance to have all students, teachers and staff mask indoors regardless of vaccination status.
At the southern Minnesota district nearly 300 are quarantined due to exposure; thirty-six students tested positive the first five days of school -- a total that took last year until October to reach.
“The district is now updating their masking policy (from recommended to required for 6-12 grades),” Minnesota Department of Health commissioner Jan Malcolm said, “but the transmission chain started just that quickly and now may not be easily stopped.”
MDH data show cases reported from schools, camps and childcare increased nearly 50% from last week to more than 300.
The CDC calls for multiple layers of protection including vaccination, making indoors, at least three feet of distance and staying home when sick. Malcolm said the absence of a statewide mandate -- something she said would require “legislative buy-in” to secure another peacetime emergency -- does not lessen the message.
“We’re concerned to hear reports that in some school districts and schools the fact that we at the state are no longer mandating prevention measures is being misunderstood to mean the recommendations are not important or that we don’t feel they are essential to implement,” she said. “I want to be really clear on this point: this layered prevention approach is something we are strongly urging schools to follow.”
A CDC study released Friday showed a northern California teacher, who came to work with mild symptoms, infected half of her classroom of children too young to be vaccinated by reading to them without a mask.
Malcolm uses Mississippi as a cautionary tale, where about 15 percent of students statewide is in quarantine.
State Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresmann said the percentage of children who are hospitalized due to COVID-19 is small, but it has grown as cases increase.
“Less than 10 were hospitalized last fall,” she said. “We were seeing about .7% of cases in children being hospitalized. Now we’re seeing that at 1.5%. That is still a low number but that is a doubling of what we saw last fall and that is definitely concerning. As the commissioner said we’re seeing more and more cases of illness in this age group.”