Vaccinated students, teachers might not have to wear masks in Illinois this fall

The Illinois Department of Public Health has announced it is fully adopting the new federal guidance for reopening schools.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new school reopening guidance Friday, urging districts to fully reopen for in-person learning. During COVID, many schools were either completely remote or using a hybrid learning plan, which included remote and in-person learning components.

Illinois school superintendents shared their frustration with the the state health department and the Illinois State Board of Education last week, citing a lack of new guidance less than two months before the new school year starts.

The board and the department were waiting on the new CDC guidance before issuing their own.

Collinsville CUSD 10 Superintendent Brad Skertich is one of 10 superintendents across the state heading up a campaign to pressure the state health department and state board of education to provide guidance or give districts local control.

He said the CDC guidance, which emphasizes flexibility for local conditions, seemed promising after talking with legal counsel and other superintendents.

“It’s positive, what we’re seeing there,” he said.

The CDC guidance emphasizes that local needs vary and recommends layering prevention strategies — such as social distancing, testing and masking — when assessing the needs of a particular school.

While many of the revisions shift emphasis to monitoring local community transmission and encouraging vaccination, the two biggest changes in the classroom are rolling back mask mandates and social distancing requirements.

“This news has been highly anticipated,” said Kathi Griffin, president of the Illinois Education Association, in a statement. “Our members are looking forward to the start of this school year, and now we have an idea of what the year will look like, and it is based on science, which is a great comfort.”

Guidelines for masks in schools

The current CDC guidance for fully vaccinated people is that they are not required to wear masks in most situations, which extends to the latest school guidance. Masks are required for everyone on public transportation, which includes school buses, per the CDC, and individuals who are not fully vaccinated should still wear masks indoors.

Schools can still choose to require masks for all students and staff. One likely reason to have a universal mandate is for elementary schools, where there may be few or no students who are at least 12 years old and able to be vaccinated.

However, as the highly transmissible delta variant is becoming increasingly prevalent among U.S. COVID-19 cases, the World Health Organization has issued different guidance, urging everyone to continue to wear masks, regardless of vaccination status.

In an interview with NPR, Bill Hanage, associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said the discrepancy likely came down to the scope of each agency. WHO is giving advice to the world, while the CDC is specific to the U.S.

The U.S. has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, with 54.79% of the population having received at least one vaccine, compared to 24.84% worldwide. Children under 12 are not yet eligible for the vaccine.

Social distancing shouldn’t stop in-person learning

Originally, the guidance for schools recommended keeping students and staff six feet apart. In March, that was amended to three feet, which is the current recommendation. If a school or classroom isn’t big enough to space students out that far, though, the CDC says that shouldn’t stop full reopening.

“Because of the importance of in-person learning, schools where not everyone is fully vaccinated should implement physical distancing to the extent possible within their structures, but should not exclude students from in-person learning to keep a minimum distance requirement,” the CDC guidance says.

When rolling back prevention strategies, school administrators should change only one strategy at a time, the CDC says. For example, if COVID cases are low enough that a school district wants to eliminate physical distancing, they should not stop requiring masks at the same time. This strategy allows administrators to monitor for any increase in cases before deciding to remove the mask mandate.