Another district, private school in Columbus area move to mask-optional policies
A second Chattahoochee Valley school district and a Columbus private school are starting to allow students and employees to not wear masks.
This week, Lee County Schools and St. Anne-Pacelli Catholic School joined the Troup County School System in changing their mask policies.
“We told our community we would monitor the data and we would go back to mask optional as soon as we could,” LCS superintendent Mac McCoy told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email.
The L-E has asked McCoy for the data used to change the policy and will update this story if it is received.
The Alabama COVID-19 K-12 School Dashboard shows weekly reported coronavirus cases among students and employees in LCS declined from 132 the week ending Sept. 17 to 22 the week ending Oct. 15.
LCS has approximately 9,400 students and 1,300 employees.
Masks remain required on buses, per the Jan. 29 federal order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
St. Anne-Pacelli Catholic School on Monday started allowing students and employees to not wear a mask if they show the administration proof they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Full coronavirus vaccination is attained two weeks after the second dose of a two-dose vaccine or two weeks after a single-dose vaccine.
“School administrators will randomly check the validity of vaccination proof provided by calling the health care provider listed on the card,” school president Ronie Collins said in her message sent to parents Sunday.
St. Anne-Pacelli has received reports of 36 students and employees testing positive for COVID since the first day of the school year Aug. 9, Collins noted.
“Only one of those who was deemed a close contact ended up testing positive for coronavirus,” she said.
Starting Nov. 1, wearing masks inside campus buildings will be optional for all students, Collins said. St. Anne-Pacelli communications director Jennifer Sillitto told the Ledger-Enquirer masks will be optional for all employees then as well.
“However, we strongly encourage those who are unvaccinated and/or immunocompromised to wear a mask,” Sillitto said in an email. “We know our parents are thoughtful when considering what is best for their child and family.”
The school has 750 students in preschool through 12th grade and 103 employees, Sillitto said.
On Dec. 11, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for individuals age 16 and older. The FDA expanded the emergency authorization May 10 to include ages 12-15. Then, on Aug. 23, the FDA granted the Pfizer vaccine full approval for ages 16 and older.
Last week, Pfizer and BioNTech asked the FDA to expand the emergency authorization to ages 5-11. That decision is pending.
The COVID vaccines made by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are not authorized for individuals younger than 18 in the United States.
The Troup County School System, citing a decline in the number of COVID cases to less than 1% of student enrollment, announced last week that masks would be optional for everyone in its buildings, regardless of vaccination status, beginning Oct. 18.
This story was originally published October 21, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
