With the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention having amended its guidance on masking in indoor areas — including school facilities — Arlington Public Schools plans to try and provide more clarity on its policy.
“We are reviewing the new guidance and will provide further updates on Monday,” school officials said after the CDC’s change in policy was announced Friday afternoon.
Arlington is now designated as a low-risk area under the new federal COVID guidelines, meaning the previous recommendation that all mask in interior areas has been dropped.
All Virginia school districts already were facing a March 1 deadline to amend their masking policies under terms of state legislation providing student choice on masks. Before the CDC’s announcement, Arlington school officials intimated they would take a hard-line approach to the state law — requiring any Arlington student who wanted to go mask-free to formally opt out while retaining the mask mandate for others, rather than simply dropping the requirement altogether.
That stance may — or may not — change with the new CDC recommendations, but the change from the CDC will make it harder for school officials to claim they are “following the science” if they choose to continue a mask mandate.