Area schools return to classroom with mask policies
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (WISH) – According to the Indiana State Health Department, in the first week of August, there were 309 new COVID-19 cases among students in Indiana schools. The daily counts are trending up for August, compared to late July, granted more children are back in school.
The move comes after multiple districts reported an increase in cases among children.
On Monday, children in four Indiana school districts are heading to class under new mask policies. Starting on Monday, all students and staff are required to wear masks at Noblesville, Hamilton Southeastern, Lawrence and Carmel Clay Schools in any indoor area and on buses. It also means everyone has to wear a mask regardless of vaccination status.
WISH-TV’s medical expert, and former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome Adams tweeted “I’m an anesthesiologist. And a dad. And I can assure you in both capacities that your child will be far more comfortable if they’re in a face mask, than on a ventilator. If you’re making a choice on behalf of a child, please choose based on their comfort, vs yours.”
The decision for school districts to mask up or not comes as the National Institutes of Health predicts the United States could soon see more than 200,000 new cases of COVID-19 every day, as the Delta variant spreads at a rapid pace.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the rate of new hospitalizations among people in their 30s increased by nearly 300% over the past month. Plus, new COVID-19 hospital admissions for that age group is the highest since the pandemic began.
Doctors said controlling the virus in schools is key.
“It’s very tough when you’ve got that kind of aggressive pathogen without using every single tool that you have at our disposal. And I’m worried now that the schools are opening in this setting and it’s going to be really tough to keep transmission down. We’re already seeing schools open up and then shutter and close,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, the dean at the National School of Tropical Medicine. “And if our goal is to get our kids through the school semester, the reality is every single person who walks into a school has to be masked.”
As of Sunday, the CDC said just over 50% of the United States population is fully vaccinated. Children under 12 years old still can’t get the vaccine.