PONTIAC (WWJ) -- Mask requirements in schools and daycares will soon be lifted for Oakland County.
The Oakland County Health Division announced Friday the mask requirements will no longer be in effect starting on Feb. 28 when they rescind emergency order 2021-1.
The emergency order obligated daycares and schools -- elementary, middle, high and vocational -- to require students, teachers and staff to wear face coverings to slow the transmission of COVID-19.
The health division said they weighed several factors to determine the appropriate time to end the mask requirement in schools.
The decline in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations along with increasing vaccination rates in Oakland County were some of the factors the health division took into account.
"As we see our critical measures of vaccinations, hospital admissions and cases moving in a direction that tell us the COVID-19 impact on our community is greatly improving, the time is right to remove the mask order for daycares and educational institutions," health division Medical Director Dr. Russell Faust said. "We must remain vigilant, however, while we remain in a pandemic. It is vital that we as individuals maintain the measures that are critical to limiting the spread of the virus while allowing businesses and schools to stay open, and our hospitals to operate safely."
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By making this announcement two weeks before the ending of the requirement, the health division said it will provide local school districts the time to prepare their staff, board members and families for the upcoming changes and to make any necessary district-level decisions and policies.
The Oakland County Health Division stated they will continue to support and guide local school districts to ensure they utilize public health tools to limit the spread of COVID-19, while allowing students to maintain in-person learning for the rest of the school year.
They still strongly recommend wearing a mask while in public indoor settings, including educational institutions.
"I am grateful for our school leadership who has worked diligently with us on measures to keep students in schools, and our parents who are vaccinating their kids to keep them safe," Oakland County's Director of Health and Human Services Leigh-Anne Stafford said. "We are now at a place in the pandemic where an emergency health order should be replaced by individual action to protect ourselves, especially masking in public and getting vaccinated. As the local public health agency, we are committed to continuing our support of local school districts by providing best practices, current COVID-19 data and recommendations for staying safe and healthy."
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The county's test positivity has dropped nearly 50%, and cases of COVID-19 during the week ending Feb. 6 declined 40% with the seven-day case average for Feb. 8 declining 83% from its peak in early January, according to county health data.
Hospital admissions in Oakland County for adults dropped 72% since the peak on Jan. 10 and declined 67% for children since the highest admissions on Jan. 8.
According to the State of Michigan COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard, as of Feb. 8, 75.8% of Oakland County residents 5 and older received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. As for residents 12 and older, 79.1% received their first dose while senior residents 65 and older have the highest first dose protection at 92.9%.