EAGLE COUNTY, Colo. — Eagle County Schools said on Tuesday that it will continue to require students and staff to wear masks indoors while attending school. The clarification follows the announcement made in recent weeks regarding mask wearing and vaccines.
A statement made by the Centers for Disease Control on May 13 stated that fully vaccinated individuals no longer need to wear masks. On the same day, Gov. Jared Polis echoed the statement for fully-vaccinated individuals.
The district’s announcement also follows the news that local Eagle County Department of Public Health and Environment plans to drop all its public health orders on Wed., May 19.
While these announcements are a sign of better days ahead, it created some confusion within public schools due to the lack of vaccination authorization for younger age groups.
“The governor’s statements from May 14 maintained that masks would be required indoors for any unvaccinated individuals,” said Superintendent Philip Qualman. “For public schools, that continues to be a large number of students, including all elementary and middle school students.”
Currently, vaccines are not authorized for children under the age of 12. Those between the ages of 12 and 15 were only recently authorized to receive the Pfizer vaccine. Due to these restrictions, many students will not be fully vaccinated – having their second dose plus 14 days – until after the end of the school year.
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