Ann Arbor schools implement two-week mask mandate as classes resume
Jeremiah Poff
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Students in Ann Arbor Public Schools must wear masks for the next two weeks, the district superintendent announced Sunday, adding the Michigan school district to the list of school districts that have restored mask requirements in the new year.
In a letter to the district community Sunday, Jeanice Kerr Swift, the superintendent for Ann Arbor Public Schools, said that masks would once again be required indoors for students, faculty, and staff until Jan. 20 due to “current health risks for our students and staff” that could increase illness-related absenteeism.
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“During this time of return from travel and social activities, the requirement of masks while indoors at school is a measure to reduce the spread of respiratory illnesses and related absenteeism and to prioritize health and in-school learning, particularly at this transition time following the winter break,” Swift said. “We all understand the critical importance of our students and staff being present for in-school learning on every day possible.”
The superintendent cited CDC guidance from December that masks could assist in preventing the spread of COVID-19, influenza, and other respiratory illnesses.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Ann Arbor’s two-week mask mandate makes it the latest school district to require masks following the conclusion of winter break.
In December, Philadelphia public schools announced that masks would be required for the first 10 days of school after the Christmas-New Year break. The New Jersey school district of Passaic County has also reinstated a mask requirement until community transmission of COVID-19 is no longer considered to be at a high level.