Vermont plans to drop its recommendation that all schools require masking for students at the end of February, Gov. Phil Scott said at a press conference Tuesday.
Instead, it will return to guidance that would recommend schools end masking requirements if more than 80% of their students are vaccinated against Covid-19, he said. The administration first proposed that rule at the beginning of the school year, but delayed its implementation as cases rose and the Delta variant became the dominant strain.
“Our kids need to get back to normal,” Scott said. “They’ve been through a lot. So we should begin this transition as soon as possible.”
It’s unclear how many schools meet this 80% rule. Scott said state officials planned to gather that data for next week. But he also teased the possibility of lifting the mask recommendation for all schools at an unspecified later date.
He mentioned multiple other states, including Massachusetts and Connecticut, that have opted to drop masks from all schools, regardless of vaccination level. “Given our nation-leading vaccination rate, no place in America is in a better position to make these changes than Vermont,” he said.
Statewide school mask mandates in Massachusetts and Connecticut are set to expire Feb. 28, according to news reports.
As at previous press conferences, officials cited anxiety among students as a justification for dropping masks. Scott said “many public health experts” were calling for this measure, but did not cite any specific studies or evidence about the psychological effects of masks.
Because the guidance is just a recommendation, said Education Secretary Dan French, schools may opt to continue masking if they want to.
He said more details on the guidance would be available at a later date, and the Feb. 28 unmasking would apply to only a small percentage of schools. A “phased approach works best” for officials to see trends in the data and for schools to get ready for the change, he said.
Asked about what high-risk or immunocompromised school staff members should do if they had safety concerns, French said those staffers should work with their schools for an individual assessment of accommodations.
“We need to accept the disposition that, personally, we might need to be wearing masks and how we think about the risk might be different than the person next to us,” French said. “And I think that will play out in schools just like it will in the broader society.”
The Agency of Education plans to provide two antigen tests per week for schools to distribute to school staff, French said.
About 77% of Vermonters ages 12 to 17, and 60% ages 5 to 11, have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine, according to the Department of Health. About 49% of 12- to 17-year-olds are up to date on their vaccines, including the booster; children under that age are not eligible for the booster shot.
The number of new Covid infections and hospitalizations continues to drop. The health department reported 158 new cases Tuesday, for a seven-day average of 304 cases per day.
Mike Pieciak, commissioner of the Department of Financial Regulation, said Covid cases have dropped 23% in the past week, and 84% from the peak of the virus in mid-January.
The number of people newly admitted to Vermont hospitals with Covid declined 31% this week, to about 10 people per day, versus 20 per day at the peak of the virus. As of Tuesday, a total of 69 people were hospitalized with the virus statewide, including 18 in intensive care.
The rate of unvaccinated Vermonters being hospitalized for the disease has dropped to its lowest point since August, with only seven unvaccinated people going to the hospital in the past week, according to health department data.
Nine Vermonters who have had at least an initial course of the vaccine were hospitalized at the same time. When accounting for the larger size of the vaccinated population, that means that unvaccinated people were still at higher risk of hospitalization for Covid.
But the booster provides even more protection, according to data presented by Pieciak over the past six weeks. People who were unvaccinated were seven times more likely to be hospitalized than boosted individuals.
Pieciak said Covid deaths remain elevated, putting February on pace with January’s death toll. About 30 people have died of Covid in Vermont so far in February, compared to 65 deaths in January. He said modeling shows that the death rate may decline in the next few weeks.
In total, the health department has reported 575 Covid deaths in Vermont since the beginning of the pandemic.
Clarification: The Scott administration's guidance has been clarified.
