AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- Austin ISD officials say they will drop their mask mandate beginning next week, following new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"The mask mandate worked when vaccines weren’t available for all students and helped students and staff weather the Delta and Omicron surges," the district said in a release announcing the move. "Now that guidance from public health experts is changing, we need to update our protocols."
The decision follows a district survey that saw thousands of responses, and comes just a week after the CDC's new guidelines came out.
“As always, please keep in mind that the fluidity of this pandemic may require that we reinstate a masking requirement,” said AISD Superintendent Dr. Stephanie Elizalde.
District officials said Wednesday that cases in students and staff have dropped by 97% in the past six weeks. The district's current case total, 59, amounts to 0.09% of students and staff.