PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Montgomery County is changing its stance on masks for kids at camps or summer school.
"Given the very low case numbers that we have, we’re saying masking is now optional in Montgomery County at summer camps, at schools, at other organizations," said Montgomery County Office of Public Health Medical Director Dr. Richard Lorraine. He said the move would be effective on June 21.
“The numbers are really getting astonishingly low. We were hoping for at least one day with zero cases. We’ve gotten down to one, but hopefully that is in our future, in the very near future.”
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Dr. Lorraine explained that businesses can still require masks, and they’ll remain in place for things like healthcare facilities and public transit.
But he said that for children outdoors, cases are so low that taking off the masks is no concern.
“Indoors, this is optional, but if they do choose to mask it’s understandable," said Dr. Lorraine.
"But again the caseload is so small, the probability is a fraction of a percent.”
The move is about a week ahead of the mask order expiring in Pennsylvania.
“We’re trying to look at our local numbers specifically and base it on that information and that science, and the numbers have been thankfully so low recently that we feel very comfortable making this recommendation," he said.
Dr. Lorraine said that while the likelihood of coming in contact with someone who is infectious is very low, if someone is sick or showing symptoms, they should still stay home.
As for the fall, he said schools should probably start planning to be back without masks.
“I’m a very optimistic person, and my feeling about this is they should be looking at having kids come back to school not having to mask," he said.
Still, he said they will continue to track cases and trends and things could change between now and then.
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