CAMDEN, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — It’s time to get back to school after winter break. In Camden and Philadelphia, masks are required, as school district officials in both cities try to prevent waves of infections from a triple threat of viruses that have been making a lot of people sick.
Students and staff return to Camden City School District classrooms on Tuesday and begin a period of masking that will be in place through January 17. Superintendent Katrina McCombs, in a message to families on December 21, said the masking requirement would be in place, “in an effort to be proactive and remain vigilant,” as COVID-19, flu and RSV circulate.
“We know now from the last three years that masking dramatically reduces the transmission,” said Dr. David May, chief quality and safety officer with Jefferson Health New Jersey.
He said it is critical that people are vigilant and take precautions — like mask wearing, hand washing and staying home when they are sick — so that another major post-holiday surge at the hospitals could be avoided.
“Last year in early to mid January is when we saw our largest peak to-date of omicron COVID infections,” May said.
“[Health care workers] need the help of our community to reduce this risk of transmission and not be overwhelmed, not have our ED and hospitals be overwhelmed by individuals such as last winter where we really, sort of approached the breaking point of our healthcare system all across the nation.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classified Camden County as being at a “high community level” when it comes to the spread of COVID-19.
Philadelphia’s community transmission level is “medium,” according to the CDC. Masking is required in School District of Philadelphia buildings through January 13.
In a recent interview with KYW Newsradio, Dr. Steven Shapiro, chairman of pediatrics at Jefferson Health Abington Hospital, said masks are a critical tool that should still be used even though the COVID-19 vaccines are widely available.
“We gotta use whatever it is that’s available to us to keep our children well and obviously to keep their parents well,” Shapiro said. He added that masks should not have become politicized as they have long been used in many aspects of the healthcare system.
“Masks are the things that keep us safe. We wear masks in our offices, in the operatories, in all of the procedural parts of healthcare delivery because they lessen the chance of contamination.”
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