Mask use extended to Sept. 23

Mask use extended to Sept. 23

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All students, staff and all people inside of Madison County Schools buildings will continue to wear masks through Sept. 23, school officials said last week.

“We are so thankful that students have been back in the classroom for a month,” Charlotte A. Seals, superintendent of Madison County Schools wrote in a Sept. 9 letter to parents. “Teaching and learning are in full swing! We want to do all that we can to keep school in session, on campus and in-person. In that interest, we will continue with an additional 14 days at COVID-19 Protocol Level 3.”

The Madison County Schools district is operating under a COVID-19 protocol system with Levels 1 through 3. Under Levels 1 and 2 masks are optional for all faculty and students (PreK-12) regardless of vaccination status.

Level 3 states that “all faculty and students (PreK-12) regardless of vaccination status, will wear masks at all times practicable while indoors and on buses.”

The district has been operating under Level 3 since the first day of full student attendance Aug. 13.

During last week’s Sept. 7 Madison County School Board meeting, some parents attended to complained about the mask requirements.

“The decision regarding what protocol level is right for our campuses involves numerous factors including COVID-19 spread across our state, community and schools,” states Seals letter dated two days after the meeting. “While we want to provide as normal a school experience as possible this year, we are not able to do that without first keeping schools open and students safe.”

Seals encouraged people to continue “efforts to wash hands, watch distance and wear masks (to) help us stop the spread of illness in our schools.

“We are all ready for this pandemic to be over,” Seals letter states. “Once again, I encourage you to consider vaccination for yourself and your child, if eligible. Let’s all do what we can to make sure that our students are able to enjoy opportunities for in-person academics, arts, and athletics. Thank you for coming together as a community to help our students stay in school.”

For the week of Sept. 6, the latest date for which figures are available, the Madison County Schools District reported 59 active COVID-19 cases, which is 0.41% percent of the on-campus population with 228 people quarantining.

As of Sept. 15, Madison County has recorded 205 new COVID-19 and two new deaths with a total of 13,961 total COVID-19 cases and 263 deaths, over last week’s report of 13,756 total cases and 261 deaths since the pandemic began in March 2020, according to the Mississippi State Department of Health.

Madison County continues to have one of the state’s highest vaccination rates with 64,049 or 60% of people having received one dose of a vaccine and 57,791 or 54% of people having received two doses compared to the statewide 45% of people having received one dose of a vaccine and 39% of people having received two doses.






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